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MANHATTANVILLK, FROM CLAREMONT. 



SUMMER DAYS ON THE HUDSON : 



Cbt Storjr of a pleasure Cour 



FROM SANDY HOOK TO THE SARANAC LAKES, 



INCLUDING 



Incident** of Wavel, I<egeii<M, Si^torldal Si)eddote^, 
$ketdl\e$ of $der|ery, etc. 



By DANIEL WISE, D.D. 



ILLUSTRATED BY ONE HUNDRED AND NINE ENGRAVINGS. 



NEW YORK: 

NELSON & PHILLIPS. 

CINCINNATI : HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S75, by 

NELSOIN & PHILLIPS, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 






PREFATORY NOTE. 



<2^ 



3TLN the following work the writer has aimed 
^ to combine instruction with amusement. 
Its brief sketches of the unequaled scenery 
of the valley of our American Rhine, as the 
Hudson has not inaptly been named, and its 
outlines of the legends, traditions, historical 
and personal incidents, associated with its 
localities, are intended to direct the atten- 
tion of young people to the only method by 
which traveling can be made a source of re- 
fined pleasure and intellectual improvement. 
Without such habits of observation and in- 
quiry travel soon becomes the synonym of 
toil, and the fruitful mother of vexation and 
ennui. With them it is a text-book of infor- 
mation and a well-spring of delight — this is 
the lesson of our book. We trust our read- 
ers will find amusement enough in the story, 



6 Prefatory Note. 

which is but a slender frame-work for the 
lesson, to carry them pleasantly through its 
pages. 

Our materials were derived from School- 
crafts great work on the Indians, Botta's 
" History of the Revolutionary War," Irving's 
" Life of Washington " and other writings, 
Hunt's " Letters on the Hudson," Mrs. Grant's 
" Memoirs of an American Lady," " New York 
in the Olden Time," sundry guide-books to 
the Hudson, Lossing's magnificently illus- 
trated and finely written work on "The Hud- 
son from the Wilderness to the Sea," and 
from personal observations. Most of our 
illustrations are from Mr. Lossing's admirable 
pencil, and have previously appeared in his 
above-named work, to which we refer such 
of our readers as may desire a more complete 
description and a fuller illustration of this 
magnificent stream. Daniel Wise. 

Englewood, New Jersey. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ON AND UNDER THE PALISADES. 

On the Piazza of the Mountain House — A Party of Six Described — 
The View from the Mountain House — The Ancient Nobility of the 
Hudson Valley — The Influence of the Concord Fight on those Noble 
Families — Jennie Stuart Rebuked — The Legend of Spuyten Duyvel 
Creek — A Boat Trip on the Hudson — Under the Palisades — The 
Country Behind the Palisades — Legend of the Phantom Ship — Back 
to the Mountain House Page 15 

CHAPTER II. 

YACHT EXCURSION TO SANDY HOOK. 

On Board a Steam Yacht — Visit to Washington Heights — A Gar- 
den of Delights — The Defense of Fort Washington Described — 
Jeffrey's Hook — Washington in Tears — A Daring Deed — Fame a 
Capricious Mistress — Pleasant Valley — Wayne's Repulse at Bull's 
Ferry — Andre's Satire — A Tragic Coincidence — Weehawken Duel- 
ing Ground — Burr and Hamilton — An Indian Legend — The Battery 
— The Narrows — Fort Hamilton — Sandy PI 00k — A Hearty Lunch 
and a Pleasant Ramble — Hendrick Hudson's Mistake — Origin of 
the name Manhattan — The Return Trip — The Navy Yard — At the 
Mountain House Again 31 

CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE TO TARRYTOWN. 

A Secret Discovered — The Song of the Frog, Okogis — A Sail to 
Tarrytown Proposed — On the River — Yonkers and its Name — A 



8 Contents. 

Little Romance — Hastings and Dobb's Ferry — Narrow Escape of 
Washington-— Irvington — View from Irving Park Page 55 



CHAPTER IV. 

SUNNYSIDE. 

Edith's Morning Retreat — Off to Sunnyside — Paulding Manor — 
At Sunnyside — The Mysterious Spring — The Brook — The Site of 
living's Mediterranean Sea — Irving's Study and Dining Room — 
Lowell's Quaint Description of Irving — Irving's Betrothed — Legends 
of Sunnyside — The Truants — An Affair of Silly Sentiment Re- 
buked 66 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM SLEEPY HOLLOW TO ROCKLAND LAKE. 

Sleepy Hollow Bridge and the Old Dutch Church — The Legend 
of Ichabod Crane — The Scene of Andre's Arrest — Andre and his 
Captors — The Colonel Talks with Arthur About Jennie — Origin of 
the Name, Tarrytown — A Yacht Trip to Rockland Lake — Impres- 
sions of the Lake — A Sail to Croton Bay — Van Cortlandt Manor 
House — Character Better than Ancestry 82 

CHAPTER VI. 

FROM TARRYTOWN TO STONY POINT. 

A Dull Day — The Legend of the Wonderful Shingebis — Sunday 
Service at the Old Dutch Church — Sing Sing and its Prison — The 
Colonel's Plan for Punishing Confirmed Criminals — Croton Point and 
the Origin of its Name — The Beauties of Croton Bay — The Croton 
Dam — Scene of Andre and Arnold's Meeting near Haverstraw — 
Mental Pictures — Stony Point — Plendrick Hudson and the Indians — 
The Capture of Stony Point by " Mad Anthony "—Edith's Dislike of 
War — The Colonel's Opinion 97 



Contents. 9 

chapter vii. 

THROUGH THE HIGHLANDS. 

The Scenery of the Highlands — The Hudson Formerly a Lake — 
Peekskill — Origin of its Name — The Beautiful Lady Spy — Fishing 
in Peekskill Bay — Ice Boats— Donderberg Point and the Horse-race 
— Legend of the Phantom Ship — The Fiend Exorcised by Dominie 
Von Geisen — Ignorance and Superstition — Anthony's Nose and its 
Legend — Lake Sinnipink and its Tragedy — Montgomery Creek — 
What some Germans said of the Hudson — Beverly Dock — Arnold's 
Escape — Cozzen's Landing — Vexation of Arthur — His Sensible Con- 
clusion Page 115 

CHAPTER VIII. 

AT WEST POINT. 

The Parade Ground — The Big Chain — The Cadet's Cemetery — 
Ruins of Fort Putnam — Washington's Narrow Escape from a Trai- 
tor's Snare — Baseness — Trip to Cold Spring — Indian Brook — Edith's 
Meekness — A Picturesque View up the River 140 

CHAPTER IX. 

FROM WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 

Adieu to West Point — Highland Entrance to Newburgh Bay — 
Turk's Face Destroyed by a Laborer — Scene of Drake's " Culprit 
Fay" — Upper Entrance to the Highlands — Indian Superstitions — 
Dutch Legends of Spirits and Fireflies — Fishkill Landing — New- 
burgh — Trip to Idlewild — Washington's Head-quarters — How Wash- 
ington Quelled a Mutiny — Visit to Fishkill — On the Steamer 
Again 157 

CHAPTER X. 

FROM NEWBURGH TO THE KATZBERGS. 

The Devil's Dance Chamber — An Indian Powwow — Wappingi's 
Creek — Poughkeepsie — Legend of the Pequod Maiden and her 



io Contents. 

Lover — Rondout — The Dutchman's Fright — Rhinebeck — The Brave 
Montgomery — Saugerties — Vaughan's Raiders at Clermont — Living- 
ston and the "Clermont" — Hendrick Hudson at Katzkill — Katzkill 
Landing Page 172 

CHAPTER XL 

AMONG THE KATZKILLS. 

Ascending the Katzbergs — The Rip Van Winkle Legend — A Com- 
pliment with a Sting in It — Indian Legends of the Katzkills — Rip 
Van Winkle's Cabin — A Disappointment — The View from the Mount- 
ain House — At Katerskill Falls — Palensville and its Vicinity — Ex- 
cursions — Edith's Sentimentality — Arthur Grows Poetical — Stage 
Ready 1S5 

CHAPTER XII. 

FROM THE KATZKILLS TO ALBANY. 

A Break-neck Drive — View of the City of Hudson — Story of the 
Lebanon Shakers — The River between Hudson and Albany — What 
the Colonel told them about Albany — At the Delavan House — Mrs- 
Grant's Picture of Life in Albany in its Early Days — General Schuy- 
ler's Mansion — Anecdotes — Adieu to Albany 200 

CHAPTER XIII. 

FROM TROY TO THE FALLS OF THE BATTENKILL. 

On Mount Ida — The Arsenal at West Troy — Lansingburgh — Co- 
hoes' Cataract — At Stillwater — The Story of Burgoyne's Capture 
briefly Told — Anecdote of General Fraser — At Schuylerville — Scene 
of a Massacre Instigated by a Priest — Fish Creek — Beautiful Scenery 
of the Battenkill 215 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM THE BATTENKILL TO LAKE GEORGE. 

The Rapids at Fort Miller — "Old Put's" Adventure on the Rap- 
ids — At Fort Edward — Putnam's Bravery when the Fort was on 



Contents. ii 

Fire— Baker's Falls— The Story of the Unfortunate Jane M'Crea and 
her Military Lover — Glen's Falls described by Hawk-Eye — Anecdote 
of Wing and Glen — Jessup's Great Falls — Confluence of the Hud- 
son and Sacandaga — Lake Luzerne — Off to Lake George. Page 232 

CHAPTER XV. 

FROM LAKE GEORGE TO THE PEAK OF TAHAWUS. 

At Lake George — Idle Days — Recalling Historic Events — Off to 
the Wilderness — Confluence of the Hudson and Scarron — An Aristo- 
crat at Scarron Lake — Rough Travel — Adirondack Village — Change 
of Attire — Calamity Pond — A Tragic Anecdote — Camping Out — 
The Opalescent Valley — Climbing Tahawus — Magnificent View — A 
Night in a Bark Camp 246 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FROM TAHAWUS TO THE END OF THE TOUR. 

A Sabbath in Camp — Lake Colden — The Iron Dam — The Indian 
and the Ore — A Tough Ride — Boating on Harris's Lake — Elephant 
Island — A Clearing on the Upper Hudson — Catlin Lake — Fountain 
Lake — Through a Swamp — Hudson's Spring — Linden Sea — Raquette 
River — The Saranac Lakes — Back to Englewood Cliffs 264 



Illustrations. 



Pack 

Manhattanville, from Clermont 2 

Spuyten Duyvel Creek 22 

Under the Palisades 27 

View on Washington Heights 32 

Jeffrey's Hook 35 

Bull's Ferry ■ 38 

Dueling Ground at Weehawken 41 

Battery and Castle Garden 45 

Fort Hamilton 47 

Sandy Hook, from the Light-house 50 

Navy Yard, Brooklyn 53 

Van Wart's Monument 59 

View near Hastings 62 

Distant View at Tarrytown 64 

View on the Pocanteco, from Irving Park 67 

Paulding Manor 69 

Sunnyside 71 

The Brook at Sunnyside 73 

The Pond, or Mediterranean Sea, as it was formerly 75 

Irving's Study 77 

Sleepy Hollow Bridge 83 

Spot on which Andre was Arrested 86 

Andre Arrested 89 

Rockland Lake 94 

Van Cortlandt Manor House 95 

State Prison at Sing Sing 102 

Croton Point from Sing Sing 104 

Mouth of the Croton 105 

High Bridge over the Croton 107 

Croton Dam 108 

Grassy Point and Torn Mountain 109 

Verplanck's Point, from Stony Point Light-house.... hi 



Illustrations. 13 

Page 

Anthony Wayne 113 

The* Peekskill by Moonlight in Winter 117 

Paulding's Monument 117 

Winter Fishing 120 

Ice-boat and Skaters on Peekskill Bay 122 

Donderberg Point . . 123 

The Brocken Kill 128 

Anthony's Nose and the Sugar Loaf 130 

Lake Sinnipink 131 

Falls in Montgomery Creek 133 

Beverly Dock 134 

Upper Cascades, Buttermilk Falls 136 

The Road from Cozzen's Dock 138 

The Parade at West Point 140 

The Great Chain and the Captured Mortars 143 

Cold Spring, from the Cemetery 144 

Fort Putnam, from the West 146 

Indian Brook 153 

View from Rossiter's Mansion 155 

Highland Entrance to Newburgh Bay 158 

Turk's Face, Breakneck Mountain 159 

Scene off the Storm King Valley 161 

Upper Entrance to the Highlands 162 

Fishkill Landing and Newburgh , 164 

Idlewild, from the Brook 165 

In the Glen at Idlewild 166 

Washington's Head-quarters 168 

Head-quarters of General Knox 170 

Mouth of Wappingi's Creek 174 

Highlands, from Poughkeepsie 175 

Rondout Creek 178 

The Katzbergs, from Montgomery Place 180 

Mouth of Esopus Creek, Saugerties 181 

View at De Koven's Bay 183 

Entrance to the Katzbergs 186 

Katers-kill Falls 194 

The Fawn's Leap 196 

Scene near Palensville 197 

View from the Promenade, Hudson 200 

View near the Overslaugh 202 

Dudley Observatory 204 



i4 Illustrations. 



V 

Page 

Sleigh Riding on the Hudson 207 

General Schuyler's Mansion, Albany 212 

Street View in Ancient Albany 213 

View of Troy, from Mount Ida 215 

Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Bridge 218 

Waterford and Lansingburgh Bridge 219 

Burgoyne's Encampment at Wilbur's Basin * 222 

Scene of Burgoyne's Surrender 223 

Rope Ferry 226 

Rapids of the Fish Creek, at Schuylerville 227 

Confluence of the Hudson and Battenkill 229 

Dl-ON-ON-DEH-O-WA, OR GREAT FALLS OF THE BaTTENKILL 230 

View at Fort Edward . . . • 234 

Baker's Falls .... 236 

Glen's Falls 239 

Kah-che-bon-cook, or Jesup's Great Falls 242 

Confluence of the Hudson and Sacandaga 244 

Luzerne Lake 245 

Confluence of the Hudson and Scarron 249 

Adirondack Village 252 

First Bridge over the Hudson 254 

Bark Cabin at Calamity Pond 255 

Fall in the Opalescent River 258 

Climbing Mount Tahawus 260 

Hospice on the Peak of Mount Tahawus 262; 

Lake Colden 265 

The Iron Dam 267 

Rapids at the Head of II arris's Lake 269 

Elephant Island -. 270 

First Saw-mill on the Hudson 272 

First Clearing on the Hudson 273 

Catlin Lake 274 

Swamp Travel 277 

Raquette River 280 

Tenants of Upper Hudson Forests 281 

A Log-house in the Forest 283 



SUMMER DAYS ON THE HUDSON. 



CHAPTER I. 

ON AND UNDER THE PALISADES. 
Oil 

TOiAGINE a bright, bland morning in June. A 
<^ party of six is seated on the spacious piazza of 
the Mountain House, which stands on the Palisades 
of our noble Hudson, near the beautiful village of 
Englewood. The seniors of this little coterie are 
Colonel Charles Macintosh, a rich bachelor, on the 
shady side of fifty, and his sister, Mrs. Ida Stuart, 
a widow somewhat older. The colonel is a man of 
commanding height, aspect, and manner. His air 
is military. His oval face is well covered with 
beard, mustache, and whiskers, all which, like his 
hair, are iron-gray. His clear, dark eyes, though 
restless and penetrating, have in them a softened 
light, which proclaims the presence of a kindly 
spirit, as does the smile which is constantly playing, 
like rays of sunshine, from his thin, finely chiseled 
lips. A distant view of the colonel might repel the 
advances of a stranger. A nearer approach would 



1 6 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The tourists described. 

both command his respect and invite his confidence. 
Moreover, the colonel is a Christian gentleman. 

Mrs. Stuart is unlike her brother in form and 
manner. She is short, stout, round as a dumpling, 
with no stateliness in her manner ; but she has the 
same kindly expression beaming from her blue eyes 
and playing on her lips. In her prime she was a 
blonde, and was regarded as a beauty. Even now 
she is a matronly lady who attracts attention, and 
favorably impresses all who behold her. 

The young ladies of the party are Edith and 
Jennie Stuart, the widow's pretty daughters. The 
former is small — a blonde — the reproduction of 
Mrs. Stuart as she was when of Edith's age, " sweet 
seventeen;" the latter, who is approaching sixteen, 
is somewhat tall, has dark hair and eyes, finely cut 
features, and is as lively and capricious as her sister 
is demure and steadfast. 

Two lads, the sons of a dear deceased friend of 
the colonel, complete the six. They have been 
adopted by him, have taken his name, and call him 
father. They are about the same ages as the young 
misses, whom they call their, cousins, are quite 
good looking, and are, like them, enjoying their 
summer vacation. The elder is named Arthur, the 
younger, Clarence. 

Having thus introduced our party to the reader, 



On and Under the Palisades. 17 

A very attractive view. 

we invite him to listen awhile to their conversation. 
The colonel is just saying to his sister: — 

" I never tire of this glorious view. Its extent is 
so great, its objects so numerous and varied, one 
always finds something, not observed before, to in- 
terest him. At our feet we have the noblest of 
rivers, not inaptly called by some the Rhine of 
America. To the south lies New York, with its 
steepled churches, and its outline marked by a 
narrow forest of masts. Sweeping along to the 
eastward is Long Island, dotted with countless 
pretty villages, and with the glittering waters of 
its noble Sound, whitened by many a sail, stretched 
at its feet. Between us and that fine body of 
water we have the wooded hills of Westchester, 
crowned with beautiful cottages and stately man- 
sions, the homes of honest toil, thrifty enterprise, 
and cultivated tastes. Looking north-eastward we 
see Connecticut in the distance, and nearer to us 
we have our river bank, on which sits Yonkers, 
like a princess in some vast drawing-room. But 
for the green woods which crown these rude rocks 
we might see far to the north and west across the 
thrifty State of New Jersey. As it is, the hoary 
tops of the Ramapo hills look down upon us when 
we look to the west. Positively I never saw a more 
attractive view, even in Europe." 



1 8 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The patroons of the Hudson River lands. 

" And positively I never heard my uncle talk so 
eloquently," said Miss Jennie, looking archly at the 
colonel, and laughing. 

"Jennie!" exclaimed her sister, looking very 
gravely, " how can you speak so to Uncle Charles?" 

The colonel gave no attention to his nieces, but 
continued gazing in rapt attention on the magnifi- 
cent landscape. His sister, after shaking her head 
reprovingly at the vivacious Jennie, remarked, 

" Yes, the view is fine, incomparably so in some 
respects. I do not wonder that, in earlier times, 
many nobles from Holland, France, and England, 
divided yonder broad acres sloping back from this 
glorious river into great estates ; nor that they 
sought to rule, like ancient barons, over the poorer 
emigrants from their native land." 

" Nobles, mamma ! Do you mean to say — do 
you believe, I mean — that noble men and titled 
ladies from Europe were ever settled along the 
banks of the Hudson?" 

To this question, put by the merry-minded Jen- 
nie, Mrs. Stuart replied : — 

" Certainly, my child. The De Lanceys, Kips, 
Van Burggs, Stuyvesants, Van Rensselaers, De Pey- 
sters, Phillipses, and many others, were people of 
rank in Europe. They became patroons, and ruled 
their tenants like barons on yonder lands. They 



On and Under the Palisades. ig 



Courtly style of the Hudson River gentry. 



lived in courtly style, dressed in gold-laced velvet 
coats, wore big wigs, ruffles, and wide sleeves. They 
carried rapiers, and were ' the gentry of the country, 
to whom the country, without a rebellious thought, 
took off its hat.' Their tenants gathered at times 
by hundreds and by thousands, like the ancient 
clansmen in Scotland at the call of their chiefs. 
They were people of real dignity, too. Joseph 
Bonaparte, who, in later times, like Louis Philippe, 
Lafayette, and other notables, visited the Living- 
ston manor, once said to a daughter of this family, 
' Your mother should have been a queen.' " 

" What you say reminds me, aunt, of a stanza in 
a poem by Holmes," observed Arthur, who, by the 
way, was much given to reading. "Shall I repeat 
it?" 

" By all means," replied Mrs. Stuart with an ap- 
proving smile. 

Arthur then recited the following lines, descrip- 
tive of the effect produced by a gentleman's turnout 
in the olden time : — 

"And all the midland counties through, 

The plowman stopp'd to gaze, 
Where'er his chariot swept in view 

Behind the shining bays, 
With mute obeisance, grave and slow 

Repaid by bow polite — 
For such the way, with high and low. 

Till after Concord 's Jig lit '." 



20 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Effect of the Concord fight. Jennie's anger. 

"Ah ! that Concord fight was a wonderful event ! " 
exclaimed the colonel. " It began a new epoch in 
the world's history. But for that barons might still 
have lived in slothful pomp, and vassals toiled in 
hopeless poverty, all over yonder beautiful hills, and 
through large portions of this country." 

" Then I wish that Concord fight had never taken 
place," replied Jennie, drawing herself up proudly. 
" I think it would be very nice to live in a baronial 
castle, with crowds of vassals to serve you and to 
do you reverence when you rode out on your pal- 
frey, followed by a troop of gay young knights." 

" Nice for whom, Cousin Jennie, the barons and 
their families, or the poor cringing vassals?" asked 
Clarence in a bantering tone. 

Jennie's dark eyes flashed with resentful feeling 
as she retorted, in an offended tone, 

" For the barons, of course, Mr. Macintosh ! You 
don't suppose that I should have been a churl's 
daughter, do you?" 

Poor Clarence, who was anxious to keep on good 
terms with his lively cousin, shrank before this out- 
burst of girlish anger and pride, and looked appeal- 
ingly to the colonel, who came to his relief by 
saying, 

" Tut, tut, Miss Jennie. You might have been 
a vassal's daughter, and yet the superior of your 



On and Under the Palisades. 21 



The Colonel rebukes Jennie. Spuyten Duyvel. 



mistress in every thing that constitutes true nobility. 
Remember, my dear, that a poor maiden adorned 
with Christian virtues is more noble than baroness 
or princess whose soul is corrupted by pride, vanity, 
and selfishness." 

Jennie's eyes fell beneath this pointed rebuke. 
She pouted and moved uneasily in her chair, when . 
Arthur very good-naturedly came to her relief by 
touching the colonel's arm, pointing across the river 
to a small stream flowing beneath a railway bridge, 
and asking, 

" Is that little stream the creek of which Irving 
speaks in his Diedrich Knickerbocker's famous 
History of New York, as the place where Anthony, 
the Dutch trumpeter, was carried down by the 
Evil One?" 

" Yes, Arthur, that is the Spuyten Duyvel Creek. 
Suppose you give us the legend." 

Arthur said he had Diedrich's famous history in 
his room and would read it, which he did, after get- 
ting the volume, as follows: — 

" The wind was high, the elements were in an 
uproar, and no Charon could be found to ferry the 
adventurous sounder of brass across the water. For 
a short time he vapored like an impatient ghost 
upon the brink, and then, bethinking himself of 
the urgency of his errand, (which was to rouse the 



22 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The legend of the Dutch trumpeter. 

people beyond the creek to arm and defend them- 
selves against the English, who had come to de- 
mand possession of the city and province of New 




SPUYTEN DUYVEL CREEK. 



Amsterdam,) he took a hearty embrace of his stone 
bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim 
across in spite of the devil, (en spyt den duyvel,) 
and daringly plunged into the stream. Luckless 
Anthony ! Scarcely had he buffeted half way over 



On and Under the Palisades. 23 

The fish that pulled Anthony down. 

when he was observed to struggle violently, as if 
battling with the spirit of the waters. Instinctively 
he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a 
vehement blast, sank forever to the bottom ! The 
clangor of his trumpet, like that of the ivory horn 
of the renowned paladin, Orlando, when expiring 
on the glorious field of Roncesvalles, rang far and 
wide through the country, alarming the neighbors 
round, who hurried in amazement to the spot. Here 
an old Dutch burgher, famed for his veracity, and 
who had been a witness of the fact, related to them 
the melancholy affair ; with the fearful addition, [to 
which I am slow in giving belief,] that he saw the 
duyvel, in the shape of a huge moss-bunker, (a 
species of inferior fish,) seize the sturdy Anthony by 
the leg and drag him beneath the waves. Certain 
it is, the place, with the adjoining promontory 
which projects into the Hudson, has been called 
Spyt den. Duyvel ever since." 

"How funny!" exclaimed the vivacious Jennie, 
who had by this time recovered from the effects of 
her uncle's reproof. 

" But it is not true," observed Edith gravely. 

" Not wholly," replied the colonel. " It is pos- 
sible that, when the English landed to attack the 
burghers of New Amsterdam, as New York was 
then named, a messenger, sent to alarm the colo- 



24 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Ghostly fears of the Dutch colonists. A boat trip proposed. 

nists, was drowned in an attempt to swim the creek. 
All beyond this is legendary, a mingling of much 
superstitious belief with a little fact. The old 
Dutch colonists were very much given to ghostly 
fears. Do you remember Washington Irving's story 
of Dolph Heyliger, Arthur?" 

Arthur laughed, and replied that he had read it 
more than once, and was very much delighted, with 
Dolph's adventures in the Haunted House and on 
the Hudson, especially with his success in winning 
the pretty Marie Vander Heyden for his bride. He 
hoped, he said laughingly, that he should be as for- 
tunate when he himself should be old enough to 
win some fair maiden. 

This last sentence was accompanied with a mis- 
chievous glance at Miss Jennie, who blushed, tit- 
tered, and said to her sister, 

" How silly Cousin Arthur can talk when he tries, 
can't he, Edith?" 

But Edith's attention was diverted to Clarence, 
who was proposing a boat trip up the river for the 
younger members of the party. 

" I should like it very much indeed," she said. 
Then turning to Jennie, who was pouting in her 
prettiest way over her sister's inattention to her 
question, she added, 

"What do you say to that, Jennie?" 



On and Under the Palisades. 25 

A knightly pledge. Beautiful nonsense. 

"To what?" 

" To a row up the river." 

" I should like it much if we only had some one 
to row whom we could trust." 

As Jennie said this she cast a scornful glance on 
her cousins, on Arthur especially. But Clarence, 
unmindful of her scorn, insisted that he and Arthur 
were counted the best rowers in the freshman crew 
at their college, and were eminently worthy of being 
trusted with the safety of the young ladies, to whom, 
he said playfully, he would pledge his knightly 
honor that " they should be returned to their lady 
mother without a wrinkle." 

"Without a wrinkle!" exclaimed Jennie, with 
flashing eyes, " what impudence ! One w r ould im- 
agine we weie a couple of* ancient maidens of un- 
certain age to hear him talk. I have a great mind 
not to stir a step with him." 

Clarence explained his remark by saying that he 
only intended to pledge himself that no weird influ- 
ence should lull the young ladies into a sleep like 
that which overtook the famous Rip Van Winkle 
higher up the river ; but that they should be duly 
returned in two or three hours in all the beautiful 
freshness of their youth and beauty. 

Jennie muttered something about " beautiful non- 
sense," but went with her sister for her straw flat 



26 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A romantic foot-path. Clarence's fancy. 

and parasol. A few minutes later the four were 
seen descending the steep, romantic foot-path which 
winds from near the " Mountain House" through 
yawning ravines, past huge masses of trap-rock, 
down to the steamboat dock, some four hundred 
feet or more below. Here they hired a boat, 
which the young men rowed up the river two 
or three miles, keeping near the western shore so 
as to gain a near view of those remarkable masses 
of trap known as the Palisades of the Hudson 
River. 

" What horrid rocks those are ! " exclaimed Jen- 
nie, as Arthur rowed close in shore where the range 
reached to nearly its loftiest height ; " they look as 
if there might be a desert filled with wild beasts be- 
hind them." 

Edith thought, that though they were rude and 
wild there was a savage grandeur about them which 
awed her spirit. 

Arthur agreed with Edith, as indeed he generally 
did in his opinions, though Jennie was his favorite. 
Clarence sided with the latter, and said : — 

" That remarkable ledge excites my wonder, not 
my admiration. I try to fancy sometimes the wild 
tumult of the hour in which this trap came burning 
hot from beneath the sandstone, along a narrow 
line not over a mile in width, and reaching all the 



On and Under the Palisades. 



What Clarence wished. 




UNIM-.K THE PALISADES. 



way from Piermont to Hoboken, rising in some 
places to the height of four or five hundred feet, in 
others to between two and three hundred. That 



28 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The country behind the Palisades. Englewood. 

was a grand movement of old Mother Nature. O 
that I had been here to see it!" 

" You would have been alone in your glory, then," 
replied Arthur, " for this trap was upheaved before 
our unfortunate father, Adam, saw the light." 

" I 'wonder if there are any bears or wolves on the 
top!" exclaimed Jennie, shuddering slightly as if 
she fancied the possibility of being seized and car- 
ried off by some imaginary wild beast. 

" Why Jennie, don't you know better?" asked 
Edith in a half rebukeful tone. " Haven't we driv- 
en to Tenafly, Cresskill, and Alpine, which lie right' 
back of these mighty rocks ?" 

Jennie had forgotten this ; and Edith proceeded 
to express her admiration of the beautiful slope and 
valley which lie in rare and quiet beauty behind the 
Palisades. 

Clarence was surprised, he said, that this valley 
had been so long neglected by New Yorkers, es- 
pecially in view of its remarkable healthfulness. 
"Think of it!" he exclaimed. " There is Engle- 
wood township, with its four thousand inhabitants, 
and only forty deaths in a year. One death to 
one hundred and twenty-five people ! Why, if the 
whole valley is like" Englewood it is a perfect sani- 
tarium, one of the healthiest places in the land." 

Arthur suggested laughingly that if he didn't 



On and Under the Palisades. 29 

Arthur's fancy. Legend of the Storm Ship. 

know his brother to be as poor as Job's turkey, he 
should take him to be a speculator in real estate, 
with "lots" beautifully mapped out, and waiting for 
buyers at fancy prices. Then, resting on his oar, 
he pointed to a top-sail schooner which was sailing 
toward them, and said, 

" I could easily fancy yonder vessel sailing so close 
to the bluff to be the Storm Ship which, according 
to the old Dutch colonists, once haunted this grand 
old river." 

" Tell us about it, Arthur," pleaded Edith. 

Arthur, whose head was a library of legends, gave 
the oars to his brother, who rowed slowly down the 
river while Arthur told the legend of the Storm 
Ship, as related by Irving in his veritable story of 
Dolph Heyliger. How she came across the ocean 
freighted with ghostly Dutchmen, wearing high- 
crowned hats with feathers. How she frightened 
the portly old mynheers of New Amsterdam. How 
the redoubtable old Captain Hans Van Pelt vainly 
sought to board her, how she sailed far up the river, 
no one knew whither, and how she appeared and 
disappeared at different times and various places, to 
the terror of the Dutch skippers and their crews, 
whose vessels sailed on these haunted waters. This 
weird story, the sleepy air, which seemed to be 
wooing the still, sunlit water to its embraces, and 



3C Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The return to the Mountain House. 

the steady motion of the skiff so beguiled the fleet- 
ing hours, that when the boat touched her landing- 
place they were all surprised to find, on looking at 
their watches, that the afternoon was fast wearing 
away. 

" We shall have barely time to get rested and 
dress for dinner," said Jennie as she skipped across 
the beach to the rustic foot-path leading up to the 
" Mountain House." 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 



31 



On board a steam yacht. 



Washington Heights. 




CHAPTER II. 

YACHT EXCURSION TO SANDY HOOK. 

DAY or two after their pleasant boat trip 
. Q>^ the young folks were greatly delighted by an 
invitation to go down the river to Sandy Hook in a 
small steam yacht owned by a friend of the colonel. 
This little craft, which was pronounced a " perfect 
little beauty" by the young ladies, found our joyous 
party on the wharf at eight o'clock, and after taking 
them on board, steamed away at once to Washing- 
ton Heights, formerly Mount Washington. 

The colonel, full of the military associations con- 
nected with this locality, requested the captain of 
the yacht to land them at a small wharf whence they 
could readily ascend the height. 

" How beautiful ! " exclaimed Edith as the party 
reached a point in the road from which a charm- 
ing villa, standing upon the summit of a sloping, 
smoothly shaven lawn, came into view. 

" It's perfectly splendid ! " replied her lively sister. 

"Just peep between those trees," said Clarence, 
pointing backward. " See those bold bluffs yonder ! 
See, too, the face of old Father Hudson shimmer- 



5- 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Poetrv and s-arca.»m. 




VIEW ON WASHING-ION 11K1G11TS. 



ing in the sunshine. Its ripples look like happy 
smiles." 

"How poetical we are!" retorted Jennie, with a 
little sarcastic laugh. 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 33 

Walking on the dust of dead heroes. 

" We can afford to be poetical," said the patriotic 
colonel. " Nature and art have combined to make 
this spot a garden of delights. Yet I cannot help 
sighing when I think that we are walking over the 
dust of heroes and patriots, and that the food which 
gives the roses and lilies of yonder pleasure grounds 
their richest tints comes, in part at least, from the 
remains of brave men whose blood was freely spilt 
in defense of liberty." 

" O, uncle ! I hope you don't mean to say that 
we are walking over dead men's bones ! " cried Jen- 
nie, with an expression of horror which was partly 
affected and partly real. 

" Perhaps not their bo7ies, my dear, but their dust 
certainly. We are passing over ground on which 
many of our countrymen and many British soldiers 
fell in the struggle for the possession of the fort 
which stood on these heights in 1776, and in which 
they were buried." 

The colonel then proceeded to tell his interested 
listeners how, after the evacuation of New York by 
Washington's army, General Greene, acting in op- 
position to Washington's judgment, resolved to de- 
fend Fort Washington. On the 16th of November, 
the British advanced with superior forces from four 
points. They were bravely met. Our half-naked 

heroes contested the ground outside the fort, inch 
2* 



34 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The tall of Fort Washington. Jeffrey's Hook. 

by inch, from noon till toward evening. At last, 
driven inside the fort, where they were too crowd- 
ed to act, and when batteries on the adjacent hills 
were ready to rake them with deadly cross-fires, they 
reluctantly hauled down the flag they had so hon- 
orably defended. Hundreds had fallen, and over 
twenty-eight hundred were made prisoners, and 
sent to the prison-ships at New York to suffer tor- 
tures worse than death. 

During the relation of this and other stories of 
the war by the colonel, our party had slowly walked 
to various points to enjoy the magnificent views, 
" nearly equal to that from the Mountain House," 
Edith said, and had descended to the river again, 
at a point known as Jeffrey's Hook. Here, point- 
ing to some mounds covered with waving cedars, 
the colonel said, 

" Here, too, stood a redoubt built to protect 
some obstructions thrown across the river by that 
resolute old revolutionary chieftain, General Put- 
nam, to prevent the British fleet passing up the 
river. And yonder, [pointing to the Palisades on 
the opposite side,] on those lofty rocks, stood Fort 
Lee, from near which our Washington witnessed 
the defeat of his troops in front of Fort Washing- 
ton. It was there, that beholding the slaughter of 
the patriots by the Hessians, who, with brutal 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 



35 



Washington's tears. 



cruelty, refused to give quarter, that the general, 
who was as tender-hearted as he was brave, was so 
completely overcome that he 'wept with the ten- 
derness of a child.' " 




JEFFREY'S HOOK. 



" If ever I become an artist I will surely paint 
that spectacle ! " exclaimed Clarence enthusiastic- 
ally. 

"Then Washington's tears will never appear in 
paint," retorted Jennie, who always found a mis- 



36 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A daring deed. A charmed life. 

chievous delight in " taking down" her Cousin 
Clarence. , 

A sharp answer rose to the young man's tongue, 
but it was prevented by the colonel's "tut, tut," 
and by Mrs. Stuart, who said, 

" Isn't it best for us to return to our little steam- 
boat?" 

Once more comfortably seated on board their 
gay little launch, our party listened to Arthur, who 
said, as they steamed gayly along, 

" There was one daring deed done on the day of 
that fight which I love to remember. When Wash- 
ington saw his patriot troops driven into the fort, 
he called for a volunteer to carry a note across the 
river to Colonel Magaw, requesting him to hold the 
fort, if possible, until night, when he would try to 
bring off the garrison. 

" A Boston man, Captain Gooch by name, in- 
stantly accepted the perilous tuust. He hurried 
down the mountain path, leaped into a little boat, 
rowed swiftly across the river, landed, ran up to 
the fort, delivered his message, obtained an answer, 
and then by running, fighting, and dodging the red 
coats who held the ground, finally reached his boat 

and recrossed the river." 

» 

" That man certainly carried a charmed life," re- 
marked Mrs. Stuart. 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 37 

The caprices of Fame. A lovely spot. 

" Had he been a Roman of the olden time," re- 
joined Arthur, " the poets would have immortal- 
ized him with their Horatii, Cocles, and others, 
whose deeds were not a bit more heroic, as I can 
perceive, than that of the daring Henry Gooch." 

" Fame is a capricious goddess, my son," observed 
the colonel. " Sometimes she writes the most de- 
serving names on her scroll ; quite as often she in- 
scribes those which might better be left to rot in 
dull oblivion ; but in every age she omits to em- , 
blazon names whose merits are equal, if not supe- 
rior, to those of her more favored sons and daughters. 
Let this teach you not to work for a place on her 
roll, but for the approval of your own conscience 
and of the All-seeing One, and for the good of 
mankind." 

The gravity of these remarks checked conver- 
sation for a few moments ; but when the steamer 
passed the height which abruptly breaks off at Fort 
Lee, and was opposite the charming strip of mead- 
ow, behind which the Palisades are less broken and 
forbidding, Miss Edith exclaimed, 

" O, mamma, what a charming spot ! It might 
well be the Happy Valley of Dr. Johnson in his 
1 Rasselas.' " 

" It is called Pleasant Valley, my dear," observed 
the colonel ; " but the crowds of pleasure seekers 



38 



Summer Days on the. Hudson. 



A delightful retreat spoiled. 



from New York, who throng it in the summer sea- 
son, prevent its being a very desirable place of 
residence. But for that annoyance it would be a 





BULL'S FERRY. 



delightful retreat for weary New Yorkers, as would 
Bull's Ferry also, which you see just below, where 
a lono- wharf juts into the river. The British had 
a block-house there at one time during the Revo- 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 39 

A tragic coincidence. Jennie's opinion <>f a spy's death. 

lution. General Wayne attacked it one night while 
his dragoons were driving off some cattle from the 
country below ; but he met with a repulse and a 
loss of sixty men killed and wounded. The unfort- 
unate Major Andre wrote a satirical poem, called 
1 The Gow Chase,' to commemorate the event. In 
its last stanza he said : — 

"'And now I've closed my epic strain, 
I tremble as I show it, 
Lest this same warrior-drover, Wayne, 
Should ever catch the poet.' 

" By a curious and tragic coincidence the young 
man was actually arrested on the very day that the 
last portion of his poem appeared in print, and the 
guard which surrounded him when he died the 
death of a convicted spy was part of a force under 
the command of the 'warrior-drover, Wayne,' whom 
he had ridiculed so unmercifully." 

" I've often read about Major Andre, and I think 
it was a cruel shame to hang such a nice young 
man. Washington ought to have saved his life." 

This was said with spirit and deep feeling by 
Jennie, whose flushed face and flashing eyes showed 
the earnestness of her opinion. Edith looked at 
her wonderingly and exclaimed, — 

"Why, Jennie Stuart !" 

"Jennie views the question through her feelings," 



40 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Romantic scenery. A fortress of the Evil One. 

said the colonel, smiling blandly on his niece. 
" Washington would have spared Andre if he could 
have done so safely. But in war it is necessary 
to make spies feel that while pursuing their call- 
ing a gallows' noose is constantly dangling over 
their heads." 

The attention of the party was now directed to 
the romantic scenery past which their yacht was 
gliding. The Palisades appeared less lofty and 
rugged than above Fort Lee. Their face was more 
sloping and better covered with verdure. The little 
cottages, lying in such cosy nooks at their base, 
wore a charming air of quiet, which led to renewed 
expressions of regret that this lovely little vale 
should be spoiled, as a place of residence, by the 
graceless hordes of uproarious pleasure seekers from 
New York, who make it their resort, especially on 
the holy Sabbath. Presently, they passed Gutten- 
berg, with its huge lager beer brewery built into the 
cliff, like a fortress of the Evil One. Shortly after, 
they were opposite Weehawken, or Weehawk, as 
the Indians called it, once the delightful retreat of 
heat-oppressed New Yorkers in summer time, but 
now disfigured by the cattle yards of the Erie Rail- 
road. 

"Yonder is the once famous 'Chalk Farm,'" said 
the colonel, pointing to a small open spot near the 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 



41 



A celebrated duelin."- ground. 



river's edge, " the ground on which men, led by a 

false sense of honor, used to meet in deadly combat." 

" Is that where the notorious Aaron Burr fought 







DUELING GROUND AT WKElIAWKEN. 



a duel with the celebrated Alexander Hamilton?" 
inquired Mrs. Stuart. 

" It is, my dear. That is where Hamilton, the 
distinguished lawyer and statesman, lost his life, 



42 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A tragic scene recalled. An Indian legend. 

through lack of moral courage to refuse the chal- 
lenge of Burr. It makes one's blood run cold to 
call up the tragic scene — to see, in imagination, these 
two men crossing the river with their seconds and 
physicians, ascend to that blood-stained ground, 
stand face to face with pistols in their hands, and 
deliberately fire, Burr's shot giving his adversary a 
mortal wound, and Hamilton's ball striking the 
branch of a tree overhead. How such a horrid deed 
could heal a man's wounded honor I cannot see." 

" But I thought Hamilton did not return Burr's 
fire," said Arthur. 

" So his seconds said, my son, but Burr's seconds 
affirmed that he did. Which were right matters 
little. Burr was a murderer, and Hamilton, by 
consenting to the duel, became his accomplice. 
Hamilton, who believed dueling to be a crime, 
ought to have been brave enough to decline that 
wicked method of settling their differences. But 
let us leave that question. There is a legend about 
old Hendrick Hudson's first visit to the Indians, at 
Weehawken. Will you hear it ? " 

" O yes, uncle, certainly. We all like legends, 
especially of the Indians." 

To this remark of Edith they all assented. The 
colonel then told them that when the Indians first 
saw Hendrick Hudson's vessel, the Half Moon, they 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 43 

Hendrick Hudson giving fire-water to the Indians. 

thought it was a moving house in which the Mani- 
tou, or Good Spirit, had come to pay them a visit. 
When Hudson landed among them, dressed in a 
red military coat, the children of the forest hailed 
him as the Manitou, and gathered about him with 
reverential awe. Hudson, who seemed to have 
been something of a wag, bowed to them in return. 
He then commanded one of his men to pour some 
liquor from an elegant decanter or bottle into a 
goblet. The jolly explorer emptied the glass at a 
single draught, and, having had it refilled, handed 
it to the chief nearest to him. The Indian smelled 
it, and passed it untasted to the next. Thus it 
went round the circle ; when one of the warriors 
made a talk in which he warned them not to re- 
turn the liquor to the Manitou lest he should be 
offended. Somebody must drink it, he said, and 
come what would he would swallow the contents of 
the goblet. Then, Avith the air of a man about to 
sacrifice himself for the public good, he took the 
glass, smelled it, bade his friends farewell, and swal- 
lowed the liquor. Very soon he began to reel and 
stagger like one bereft of self-control. Then he fell 
down like one dead. Upon this the women be- 
gan to make piteous lamentations, which presently 
ceased when they found that he still breathed and 
appeared to sleep. By and by he awoke, jumped 



44 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The Indians' 1 worst enemy. Passing Castle Garden. 

up, declared that he had never been so happy in his 
life, and demanded more of the charmed liquor. 
Hudson gave him more, gave the others all they 
would drink, and, in short, made them all most in- 
gloriously drunk. 

"This," said the colonel in concluding the legend,* 
" is the way the poor Indians became acquainted 
with that fire-water which proved to be the worst 
enemy they ever met. It has done them more hurt 
than the bullets of the pale faces." 

" And wrought more wretchedness and destroyed 
more lives among the pale faces than Indian torch 
or tomahawk ever did," added Mrs. Stuart. 

" I think it was very mean of Hendrick Hudson 
to give them the fire-water at all," said Edith. 

" Very mean, no doubt," replied the colonel. — 
" But here we are almost opposite the Battery and 
Castle Garden, once the grand promenade of the 
gayest belles in New York, but now the lounging 
ground of loafers, and the landing-place of emi- 
grants." 

Mrs. Stuart thought it was a pity that the stern 
needs of commerce should have driven the merchant 
princes from their mansions around the once beau- 

* Tradition locates this legend variously — at Weehawken, Man- 
hattan Island, and Albany. It is not unlikely that it describes a 
scene frequently repeated in those first meetings of Indians and 
white men. 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 



45 



Commerce and elegant homes. 



New York Bay. 



tiful Battery to the less attractive uptown streets ; 
but the colonel said it was all right, because com- 
merce is to elegant homes what the fountain is to 







"=• ■&&£*, * 



THE BATTERY AND CASTLE GARDEN. 



the stream. He then called their attention to the 
spacious bay into which they were now steaming, 
and which was dotted with white-winged sailing 
ships, stately steamers, and little puffing steam- 
tugs, which made him, he said, almost fancy they 



46 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A quaint conceit. A shoal of porpoises. 

were offended river gods rushing hither and thither 
seeking the destruction of the countless vessels 
which constantly disturbed the quiet of their an- 
cient reign. At which quaint conceit Miss Jennie 
smilingly remarked to Arthur, with something of 
irony in her tone, — 

" I did not know Uncle Charles was so poetical." 

" This beautiful bay is charming enough to draw 
poetry from a stone, Miss Jennie," retorted Arthur, 
who was intent on viewing Jersey City (once known 
as Paulus' Hook) and Staten Island through his 
field glass. 

This pointed retort put a pretty pout upon the 
young girl's lips, which was speedily removed, how- 
ever, when Edith exclaimed, " O, look! see, Jennie, 
there is a shoal of porpoises ! " 

Instantly all eyes were directed to the gambols 
of numerous huge black fishes, now leaping sport- 
ively almost out of the water and then plunging 
under again. A pretty spectacle often witnessed 
in the bay. 

Very soon the yacht passed Governor's Island, 
and sped her way into the Narrows, which connects 
the outer and inner bay. Here their attention was 
diverted by the villa-crowned hills of Staten Island 
on the right, and the less elevated shores of Long 
Island on the left. As they shot between Fort 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 



47 



The forts. 



Torpedoes and iron-clads. 



Hamilton, built on the island shore, and Fort La- 
fayette, formerly Fort Diamond, standing upon a 




FORT HAMILTON. 



reef of rocks only about two hundred feet distant, 
Clarence observed, — 

" It would go hard even with an iron clad if she 
came between the guns of these two forts. 

The colonel said that it was very difficult to de- 
cide how much fire a first class iron-clad could en- 
dure without destruction, but he thought that, aided 
by torpedoes, these two forts, with Forts Tompkins 
and Richmond on the Staten Island side, would 



48 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A grand deed. An incongruous remark. 

destroy any fleet which might have the hardihood 
to attempt the passage of the Narrows with warlike 
intent. " But," added the colonel gravely, " old 
soldier as I am, I hope the experiment will never 
be tried. War is inhuman work at best, and the 
simple deed of mercy performed by the good 
Samaritan had more of real glory in it than the 
proudest victory ever won by the greatest of con- 
querors." 

" Don't you think our late war was right, then?" 
asked Clarence. 

" Our war was ennobled on our side by its object, 
my boy, which was to defend our institutions against 
the encroachments of a spirit which sought to make 
human slavery their foundation stone — " 

"O dear, how hungry I am!" exclaimed Jennie, 
cutting off her uncle's speech, and provoking a gen- 
eral laugh by the incongruity between her exclama- 
tion and his theme. 

The colonel joined in the laugh, and pulling out 
his watch, replied, 

" Well, it is getting on toward noon. We have 
steamed slowly thus far, so that we might enjoy the 
scenery of the river and harbor. I will ask the 
captain to increase our speed now, and when we 
reach Sandy Hook we will eat our luncheon. 

The remainder of the eighteen miles which 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 49 

Pleasant discussions. An enjoyable lunch. 

stretches between New York and Sandy Hook was 
soon run by the little yacht. She steamed quickly 
through Gravesend Bay and past Coney Island, 
while our party chatted gayly, chiefly about the 
effect produced on the mind of old Hendrick Hud- 
son when he anchored his little craft, the Half 
Moon, inside Sandy Hook, more than two hundred 
and sixty years ago. They wondered what the 
daring old warrior thought of the spacious Raritan 
Bay, of the beautiful Narrows, of the inner bay, of 
the surrounding shores then indented by creeks and 
crowned with virgin forests, and of the cinnamon- 
colored natives who came in their canoes to gaze 
on his " moving house," wondering whether he was 
a man like themselves, or whether he was a god like 
the Manitou whom they worshiped. 

These pleasant discussions were cut short by their 
arrival at Sandy Hook, and the welcome announce- 
ment of the steward, " Luncheon is ready ! " 

Their sail of thirty miles, and their hour's ram- 
ble on Washington Heights, had given them " real 
sailors' appetites," as Miss Jennie expressed it. 
With hunger as sauce they enjoyed their bountiful 
lunch, and then went ashore and rambled to the 
light-house and to the powerful fort, in process of 
construction, at a point which commands the ship 
channel. They gazed with awe on the restless 



50 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



An ocean view. 



Friendly lights. 



waters of the vast Atlantic. They admired the 
bright surface of Raritan Bay, with its rippling 
waves shimmering in the sunshine, and commented 





8ANDT nOOK FROM THE LIGHT-HOUSE. 

on the gladness with which the anxious sailor hails 
the friendly lights which send out their bright 
beams from the Highlands of Navesink, which were 
visible at the other end of the cape, five miles dis- 



Yacht Excursion to Sandy Hook. 51 



How Hendriek Hudson's mistake was corrected. 



tant. Then, after gathering a few sprigs of seaweed 
as mementos of their visit to this barren, storm- 
beaten strip of land, they returned to their pretty 
little yacht. 

As they steamed past Coney Island and the Long 
Island shore their conversation was again turned to 
old Hendrick Hudson, and his great mistake in 
supposing, as he did at first, that he had found the 
route to India and China when he entered Raritan 
Bay. 

" He did not find out his mistake," said the 
colonel, " until he had sailed one hundred miles up 
the Hudson, when the narrowing of the stream, the 
freshness of the water, and the increasing swiftness 
of the downward current, convinced him that the 
land of the Orient could never be reached by sailing 
in that direction. Then, after long deliberation and 
sending a boat up the river to make further obser- 
vations, he warped the Half Moon from the bank 
on which she had grounded, and put her about with 
great difficulty, she being, as the venerable Knicker- 
bocker wrote, ' like most of her sex, exceeding hard 
to govern,' and the adventurous Hudson returned 
down the river with a prodigious 'flea in his ear!' 

The colonel smiled somewhat roguishly at the 
young ladies as he quoted these ungallant words 
from the outspoken Diedrich Knickerbocker's veri- 



52 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Jennie's opinion of Dietrich Knickerbocker. 

table history. Edith quietly laughed at them, as at 
a streak of pleasant humor; but Jennie bristled up, 
and with a frowning brow and sharp tone said, 

" Uncle, I think that old fellow, whom you call 
the venerable Knickerbocker, was no gentleman ; 
nothing but a surly, fussy old bachelor." 

This spirited blow at the reputation of New York's 
most famous historian caused a general laugh, which 
somewhat discomposed Miss Jennie, because she 
felt uncertain whether it was directed at her or at 
the historian. Arthur came to her relief by asking 
the colonel, — 

" Why was the river and the island of New York 
first named Manhattan, sir?" 

" That is variously accounted for by old Diedrich, 
Arthur," replied the colonel. " He tells us that a 
waggish governor, inspired by some Philadelphia 
wits, traced it to a custom among the squaws of 
wearing men's hats. Hence came the appellation 
of Man-hat-on, first given to the Indians, and after- 
ward to the river and island. This, however, the 
historian pronounces a stupid joke, but well enough 
for a governor. He then gives a tradition which 
traces the name to Manetho, the good spirit of 
the Indians, who once made the island his abode 
because of its uncommon delights. Finally, he 
adopted the opinion that it was originally written 



YacJit Excursion to Sandy Hook. 



From the Narrows to the Navy Yard. 



Manna-Hatta — that is to say, the Island of Manna, 
or, in other words, a land flowing with milk and 
honey! " 

Thus, by pleasant conversation on the early his- 
tory of the river, interspersed with comments on 
the many beautiful objects on land and water which 
met their eyes, our party beguiled the time while 
their yacht bore them, with bird-like swiftness, 




NAVY YARD, BROOKLYN. 



through the Narrows, round past Bay Ridge and 
Brooklyn, up the East River as far as the Navy 
Yard. Then, steaming round, she glided safely 
through the numerous craft which were moving 



54 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A glanct- at Manliattanville. At Englewood again. 

about the river, rounded the Battery, and ascended 
the Hudson, keeping close to its eastern shore. 

This gave them many glimpses of the city and 
its most lofty edifices, and carried them near to 
Manhattanville,* of which the colonel said, " It is a 
very pretty suburban village. We must visit it 
some time, if opportunity offers." 

It was nearly sunset when our excursionists 
reached the dock at Englewood. There they were 
delighted to find a carriage waiting to convey them 
up the Palisades to their hotel. As they seated 
themselves upon its easy cushions, Jennie remarked, 

"This is nice. I don't think we could ever have 
climbed up the foot-path this afternoon." 

"Why, Jennie," responded the colonel, " I thought 
you greatly admired that rustic walk." 

Jennie' pouted her lips, but said nothing. Her 
mother replied, " No doubt the path is romantic 
and charming enough when people are fresh, but 
weariness takes the romance out of every thing one 
sees." 

To this the colonel assented by a silent nod. Lit- 
tle was said during the ride up the steep hill ; but 
after dinner had refreshed them, they renewed the 
pleasures of the day by recalling what they had seen, 
and by planning for further excursions on the river. 
* See Frontispiece. 






From the Mountain House to Tarrytown. 55 



New ideas about travel. Edith's enthusiasm. 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE TO TARRYTOWN. 



p^HEIR excursion down the river had given 
ut). birth to new ideas and feelings in the youthful 
members of our vacation party. It had given them 
a slight perception of the secret, the full possession 
of which makes all travel, whether local or distant, 
home or foreign, a source of both improvement and 
pleasure — namely, close observation of natural and 
artificial objects, and inquiry into the associations, 
historical and traditional, connected with the locali- 
ties visited. Speaking to her sister and cousins the 
next morning, Edith said, — 

" Our trip yesterday added to my little stock of 
information ; it has made the creek yonder and 
Washington Heights look like new places to me. 
That legend of the bold trumpeter has given yonder 
drowsy waters an air of romance, while the story of 
the storming of the fort below has covered the 
heights with a halo of patriotic glory." 

The bright glow of real enthusiasm which lighted 
up Edith's pretty face as she made these remarks 
seemed to communicate itself to her companions, 



56 Summer Days o:; the Hudson. 

Jennie's request. A toad. 

especially to Arthur. Even Jennie, who was thought 
to prefer flirting with her cousins and other lively 
young gentlemen to acquiring solid information, 
caught the inspiration, and declared that "those 
legends about the Indians were really delightful;" 
then turning to Arthur, she added, " Can't you tell us 
another, coz, to pass away the time this morning?" 

Just then a big toad happened to hop from be- 
neath the piazza, and, sitting in the shadow of its 
lower step, fixed his jeweled eyes as if watching the 
coming of some fat, vagrant fly, which he might 
devour for his breakfast. Arthur pointed to the 
unshapely creature and replied, 

" There is a frog — a toad rather. The Indians 
called the frog okogis. Now, as I don't happen to 
think of a legend just at this moment, I will recite 
the ' Song of Okogis in the Spring,' if that will suit 
you, Miss Jennie." 

" O yes. Frog or Indian is all one to me, pro- 
vided you say something interesting." 

" Not very complimentary to the Indian — but 
never mind. The poor fellow has disappeared from 
these shores, and we tread upon his dust." 

" Sakes alive ! as poor old Aunt Mehetabel used 
to say, you don't mean to tell us that we are on an 
Indian burying-ground, Mr. Arthur?" 

" Not literally, perhaps, Miss Jennie. The earth 



From the Mountain House to Tarry town. 57 



Okogis the frog. Another excursion proposed. 

is too shallow just round here for a burial-ground 
though, I have no doubt, this hill-side holds the 
dust of many a brave who once hunted game along 
these Palisades — but let me tell you what Okogis, 
the Frog, said to Indian ears in the spring time of 
the long ago : — 

" See how the white spirit presses us, — ■ 
Presses us, presses us, heavy and long ; 
Presses us clown to the frost-bitten earth. 
Alas ! you are heavy, ye spirits so white ; 
Alas ! you are cold — you are cold — you are cold. 
Ah ! cease, shining spirits, that fell from the skies, 
Ah ! cease to crush us, and keep us in tread ; 
Ah ! when will ye vanish and Seogwun [Spring] return." 

" Not a bad conception that for an Indian poet," 
observed the colonel, who had come out on to the 
piazza just as Arthur commenced his recitation. 
" But," he added smiling, "you must leave the frog 
to utter his lamentations and get ready for an ex- 
cursion to Sunnyside and Tarrytown." 

This announcement caused them to spring from 
their chairs with eager haste and cluster round the 
colonel, seeking an explanation. 

His arrangement was novel, but acceptable. They 

were to go up to Tarrytown in a large sail-boat. 

Their baggage would be forwarded by railway to 

Nyack, and thence by boat across the river to their 

lodgings. They were to be ready as soon as possible. 
3* 



58 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Sailing on the Hudson. Yonkers. 

As their departure was not wholly unexpected, 
they 'were not long in packing their trunks. A car- 
riage bore them from the Mountain House to the 
river, where a stout sail-boat, manned by two men 
with hard hands and bronzed faces, awaited them. 

A fine southerly breeze wafted them up the noble 
stream with all desirable speed, giving them a fine 
view of the Palisades in their grandest and wildest 
aspect, and bringing them, in due time, opposite 
the beautiful city of Yonkers, four miles from 
Spuyten Duyvel Creek. 

" Yonkers ! " exclaimed Jennie, " what a homely 
name for such a pretty place." 

" Its meaning is prettier than its sound, which is 
not altogether euphonious, I confess. We got it 
from the Dutch, who called it Yonkheer, which 
signifies the son of the master or lord, that is, the 
family heir. It was originally called Donck's Col- 
ony, after Adrian Van der Donck, who purchased 
its site from the Indians." 

"What did the Indians call it, uncle?" asked 
Edith. 

" They, with more poetical feeling than the lusty 
Dutchmen, called it Nap-pc-cJia-mak, or the rapid- 
river town, because of the merry stream which there 
comes tumbling and dancing down from the green 
hills toward its resting place, the Hudson. This 



From the Mountain House to Tarry town. 59 



Utilitarian vandals. 



A rustic patriot. 



expressive name was changed to Neperah by the 
early colonists, and afterward to Saw-mill River. 

"O, the utilitarian vandals!" exclaimed Mrs. 
Stuart with an earnestness which made them all 
laugh, approvingly of course. 

" Was not Isaac Van Wart, one of the captors of 
Andre, buried at Yonkers, sir?" asked Clarence. 

" Not exactly in Yonkers, my son, but near it, in 
the burial-ground of the 
Presbyterian Church of 
Greenburgh, that rustic 
patriot sleeps the sleep of 
the just. A marble mon- 
ument marks the spot, 
and records his fidelity 
to his trust. His mem- 
ory is worthy of preserva- 
tion, for had he and his 
equally noble comrades, 
Paulding and Williams, been dull of brain or cor- 
rupt in heart, our Revolution might have had a 
termination fatal to American freedom." 

" There were many heroes in those days," re- 
marked Arthur. 

" That's so," replied Clarence, "but if I do not 
misread history there were a great many sham pa- 
triots also." 




VAN WART'S MONUMENT. 



60 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A celebrated royalist beauty. 

The colonel smiled and said, " No doubt, no 
doubt. Self-seeking men are found every-where 
and in all ages, wearing the masks most likely to 
help them gain their ends. 

Mrs. Stuart now recalled attention to Yonkers, 
speaking very highly of the beauty of its situation, 
of its many charming villas, and its delightful drives. 

" There is a little romance connected with Yon- 
kers which may please you young folks," observed 
the colonel, looking archly at his nieces. " That 
celebrated royalist beauty, Mary Phillipse, the heir- 
ess of the great Phillipse Manor, w r as born here. In 
her youth she won the heart of George Washington ; 
but young Colonel Morris, his companion in arms 
during the French and Indian w r ars, won her affec- 
tions, and she became Mrs. Morris. Her husband 
was a stanch royalist in, the Revolution. She clung 
to the same side, and being condemned for high 
treason, lost the whole of the great Phillipse estate, 
which was confiscated by the State." 

" Wasn't it lucky Washington didn't marry her!" 
exclaimed Jennie. 

"Why?" asked the colonel. 

" Because in that case he would have been a 
rebel instead of a patriot," retorted Jennie with 
earnestness. 

The colonel laughed heartily at the confidence in 



From the Mountain House to Tarrytown. 61 



A naval skirmish. Attempt to capture Washington. 



a woman's influence over her husband which his 
niece's answer implied. The girl blushed under 
his laugh, but listened respectfully when he gave it 
as his opinion that if Mary Phillipse had become 
Mary Washington she would, in all probability, have 
caught the spirit of patriotism from her husband, 
and been as true to her country as was Martha 
Washington. 

As they passed Yonkers the colonel told them 
that a naval skirmish between two English frigates 
and some American gun-boats was fought there- 
abouts, and the latter, getting worsted, fled up the 
Neperah for shelter. 

Three miles above Yonkers they passed the vil- 
lage of Hastings, which derives much of its pros- 
perity from the marble quarries in its vicinity. A 
mile or two beyond they came to Dobb's Ferry, 
concerning which the colonel said, 

" It was from near this place that six thousand 
British troops crossed the river, shortly after the 
capture of Fort Washington, for the purpose of cap- 
turing General Washington and the troops which 
were still at Fort Lee. This movement was kept as 
secret as possible. The troops were to march across 
the country from Sneedan's Landing, and having 
secured possession of the only bridge which crossed 
the Hackensack, to move upon Fort Lee. Had the 



62 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A narrow escape. 



detachment sent to occupy the bridge secured it 
promptly, Washington and his men must have been 
captured, because they were too few to cope with 
such a force, and they had no means of crossing the 




VIEW NEAR HASTINGS. 



river below the bridge. Providentially, Washington 
heard of this movement in season to escape. Leav- 
ing tents, guns, and ammunition behind, he marched 
rapidly for the bridge. The enemy had the advan- 
tage of an earlier start and a shorter line ; but, for 
no imaginable reason, they halted at what is now 
Tenafly long enough to permit Washington to reach, 
cross, and destroy the bridge. Thus he and his 



frrom the Mountain House to Tarrytozvn. 63 

Irving Park. A charming view. 

troops were saved from capture, but it was one of 
the narrowest of escapes — one of the many marks of 
the care of that superintending Providence which 
characterized our Revolution." 

This interesting incident led to a long conversa- 
tion about the old Revolutionary war, during which 
our voyagers passed Irvington, near which is Sunny- 
side, once the home of that universally admired 
writer, Washington Irving. Toward the middle of 
the afternoon they arrived at Tarrytown, where 
they landed, and were cordially welcomed by an old 
friend of the colonel, who occupied one of tjie most 
sightly villas in " Irving Park." 

"Haw delightful this view is!" exclaimed Mrs. 
Stuart, when the party, after partaking of refresh- 
ments, had gathered, under the guidance of their 
host and hostess, on the piazza of the mansion. 

There was no exaggeration in this exclamation. 
The view was exceedingly beautiful. It included 
a highly cultivated park, in which the villa stood, 
enlivened by glimpses of the fantastic Pocanteco, 
which rushed, and sparkled, and leaped from down 
the hill-side. Near by was the village of Tarrytown. 
At their feet was the noble Hudson, stretching up- 
ward for miles, until it seemed to lose itself in the 
Highlands. Scores of vessels were lazily creeping 
upon its unrippled surface. Beyond were the lofty 



6 4 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A spirited dispute. 



Palisades, sloping down to the villages of Piermont 
and Rockland. The younger members of our party 
fell into a spirited dispute respecting the compara- 




DISTANT VIEW AT TAURVTOWN 



tive beauty and grandeur of this view and that seen 
from the Mountain House. 

"This view," said Edith, "excels in beauty; that 
at Englewood is grander and more varied." 

Jennie insisted that the Mountain House view 



From the Mountain House to Tarrytown. 65 

Eomantic hopes. 

was perfect, saying, with one of her prettiest and 
most positive airs, " I don't believe there is any 
thing like it anywhere on the Hudson." 

Her mother and uncle smiled at her warmth. 
They did not know then that some little romantic 
hopes had been excited and some peculiarly interest- 
ing words had been spoken there to her by Arthur. 
This had no doubt tinged every thing connected 
with its scenery with an atmosphere of romance. It 
was, to be sure, little else than childish sentiment, 
but it had, nevertheless, glorified the place in her 
girlish imagination. 



66 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Edith on the banks of the Pocanteco. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SUNNYSIDE. 

^ARLY the next morning Miss Edith arose 
while her sister was yet sleeping, and, taking 
a volume of Irving's works which she found on the 
table in her chamber, went out into the park to 
read once more the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Seek- 
ing the bank of the Pocanteco, which, as she knew, 
flowed through the scene of Ichabod Crane's mid- 
night fright, she found a bridge spanning the 
stream at a point where it rushed with headlong 
speed over the rocks, and where the seclusion al- 
most made her forget that she was near the busy 
haunts of men. 

Here she was found an hour later by her cousins, 
who had been sent out to find her. Clarence ran 
up first and said, 

" Ah ! here you are, Miss Edith. We have been 
almost distracted on your account, fearing lest you 
had been transformed by Undine into a Naiad, and 
carried down to her royal grotto at the bottom of 
our beautiful Hudson." 

" Or carried off by the headless horseman whose 



Sunny side. 



Pleasant banter. 



67 



terrors once drove poor Ichabod Crane almost out 
of his wits as he was returning from a visit to his 
scornful lady-love," added Arthur with a merry 



^-•\n-. 




VIEW ON THE POCANTKCO FROM IRVING PAEK. 

laugh, that was certainly not in harmony with the 
ghostly fears which his words expressed. 

The demure, simple-hearted Edith looked won- 
deringly at her cousins as she quietly replied, 

" I see no occasion for alarm ; I only came here 



68 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Kind words rewarded. On the way to Sunnyside. 

to read about Ichabod Crane, because I thought it 
would be nice to read about him near the valley 
which was the scene of his fright and flight." 

" O, yes; very nice, no doubt, but not so very- 
nice for us who have been kept waiting half an 
hour or more for our breakfast," rejoined Arthur. 

" Don't stretch the truth," retorted Clarence. 
" We haven't waited ten minutes, and I was only 
funning when I said we were distracted about you, 
Miss Edith." 

The young lady looked her gratitude to Clarence 
for his kind words, and, by way of rewarding him 
for his knightly interest in her behalf, took his prof- 
fered arm, and walked with him to the villa, where 
she was cordially greeted and highly complimented 
for the bloom with which the fresh morning air had 
adorned her cheek. 

After breakfast carriages were driven to the door 
to convey them to Sunnyside, nearly three miles 
below, for the purpose of visiting the home of Irving, 
whose graceful pen has made this part of the Hud- 
son classic ground. 

On their way they paused awhile to view Pauld- 
ing Manor, a marble mansion which had attracted 
their notice, as it does that of every traveler on the 
Hudson during their sail up the river. They all 
admired it. The colonel called it " the finest speci- 



Sunny side. 



A splendid mansion. 



69 



men of the Pointed Tudor style in America." Mrs. 
Stuart went into a sort of esthetic rapture over " its 
picturesque outline, made up of tower and turret, 
gables and pinnacles." Jennie was chiefly pleased 



1/ In 



m 




PAULDING MANOR. 



with " the elegant decoration of its ceilings," and 
with the spacious drawing-room, which she said 
"was a splendid room for a large party." Arthur 
was fascinated by its noble library, and Clarence 
found especial pleasure in examining the mull- 
ions and tracery which adorn its windows. All of 
them agreed that they were fortunate in having a 
friend such as their host, whose intimate acquaint- 
ance with its owner could procure them admission 



yo Summer Days on the Hudson. 

At Sunnyside. Jennie and Arthur disappear. 

into a residence which was such an unusually splen- 
did specimen of architectural elegance. 

Resuming their seats in their carriages, our party 
was driven, through scenery which was a constant 
charm, to Sunnyside, the home of the late Washing- 
ton Irving. Leaving their carriages at the gate, at 
the end of a romantic lane, they walked into the 
grounds. They had advanced but a few steps when 
Mrs. Stuart exclaimed in very enthusiastic tones, — 

"And that is Sunnyside! How beautiful! That 
porch is elegant, and that ivy, half hiding the end 
of the house, is absolutely charming ! I don't won- 
der Irving loved this delightful home." 

Jennie somewhat shocked her mamma by remark- 
ing, " What a splendid croquet-ground this lawn 
would make ! " 

"Fy, fy, Jennie!" replied Mrs. Stuart. "I am 
ashamed of you for being unable to see any thing 
higher and better than a croquet-ground in this 
lovely spot." 

But the vivacious miss did not heed her mother's 
rebuke. Before it was fairly uttered she was run- 
ning toward a green archway, formed by the tops 
of two trees, through which the water of the Hud- 
son was visible, like a picture framed with leaves. 
Arthur was seen to follow her with zealous speed. 

After the rest of the party had sauntered round 



Siuiuyside. 



The spring- at "Wolfert's Eoost. 



71 



the lawn and along the path fronting on the river, 
which was Irving's favorite walk, Clarence asked 
the colonel if there was not a spring on the place 







STTNNYSIDE. 



concerning which there is a curious legend related 
in one of Irving's fascinating stories. To which the 
colonel replied : — 

'Yes; it is mentioned in ' Wolfert's Roost,' where 
it is veraciously stated that Femmetie Van Blarcom, 



72 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Legend of Femmetie Yan Blarcom. 

wife of Goosen Garret Van Blarcom, being about to 
leave their farm near Rotterdam to settle with her 
liege lord on the banks of our noble river, was 
anxious to carry a certain spring with them to their 
new home. She was confident they would find no 
such water here. So with womanly ingenuity she 
one night stole secretly forth in the darkness, and 
putting the aforesaid spring in her churn, brought 
it with her household gods to America." 

They all laughed heartily at the ludicrous idea of 
bringing a spring across the Atlantic in a churn ! 
Nevertheless, they followed their Tarrytown host 
to the foot of the glen, lying south of the mansion, 
near the river bank, where they found the spring 
to which tradition attached this history, and there 
they drank of its waters to the memory of the in- 
genious Femmetie Van Blarcom. 

From the spring they strolled up the banks of 
the brook, which poured its crystal waters in min- 
iature cascades through one of the most romantic 
of sylvan scenes, which Mrs. Stuart declared was 
"just the sort of a place for a literary magician, 
like Irving, to conjure up all sorts of legendary 
creations." 

"And to hold converse with all sorts of hobgob- 
lins, satyrs, dryads, and other weird creatures," 
added Edith. 



Sunnyside. 







,W. 4 



TIIK BROOK AT 6UNNVSIDJ: 



Their guide informed them that this charming 
1 was a favorite retreat of its late lamented 



as also was a beautiful little lakelet, which he wa.< 



owner, 
as 



74 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The hollow that once held a fairy sea. 



wont in his playful moods to call his " Mediterranean 
Sea," to which he now proposed to lead them. 

A short walk along the bank of the brook and 
along a deliciously shaded path brought them to a 
spot of which Edith was pleased 'to say that it must 
once have been a " fairy sea." It was a hollow, 
shaped liked a palm-leaf, and when filled with the 
water of the brook, which was formerly dammed up 
at the outlet, where it escaped in the form of a spark- 
ling cascade, must have been as charming as in our 
engraving. Then its shores were well wooded, a 
flock of ducks sported on its still surface, as did also 
the sunbeams which forced their way through the 
overarching foliage. But now, alas ! its beauty had 
mostly disappeared. The dam was gone, the hollow 
was partly filled up, and it required a vivid imagina- 
tion to see it as it was when drawn by the artist. 

"A lovelier spot can scarcely be imagined," ob- 
served Mrs. Stuart, after they had strolled awhile 
around the miniature grounds and taken a second 
ramble on the path which skirts the margin of the 
lawn above the sloping bank of the river. 

"Just the spot for such a dream-life as Irving 
loved to describe," replied the colonel as he led the 
way toward the dwelling in which our great magi- 
cian of the Hudson spent the latter days of his 
pleasant life. 



Sunny side. 



75 



An inside view of Sunnyside. 




THE POND, 



1 H3 t 

OR MEDITERRANEAN SEA, AS IT WAS FORMERLY 



Their host procured them admission to Irving's 
Study, which they found to be a pleasant room of 
moderate size, from one window of which there was 



y6 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Lowell's pen-portrait of Irving-. 

a fine view of the river. From the other could be 
seen the lawn and the carriage road leading to the 
house. They also entered the little parlor and the 
comfortable-looking dining-room. 

" A delightful retreat, a modest, gracefully-fur- 
nished workshop for a literary artist," observed the 
colonel. " Sunnyside is just such a home as one 
would expect a genial, poetic soul, such as Irving, 
would create for himself. He was, indeed, a rare 
creation himself. I cannot help thinking at this 
moment of Lowell's humorous description of his 
character. He says of him : — ■ 

" But allow me to speak what I humbly feel, — 
To a true poet heart add the fun of Dick Steele ; 
Throw in all of Addison minus the chill, 
With the whole of that partnership's stock and good will. 
Mix well, and while stirring, hum o'er as a spell, 
The fine old English Gentleman ; simmer it well ; 
Sweeten just to your own private liking, then strain,' 
That only the finest and purest remain ; 
Let it stand out of doors till a soul it receives 
From the warm, lazy sun, loit'ring down through the leaves ; 
And you '11 find a choice nature, not wholly deserving 
A name either English or Yankee — just Irving." 

"That is a quaint quotation," observed Mrs. 
Stuart, smiling at the alliteration. " But I wonder 
that so genial and affectionate a man never found a 
partner to share with him the many pleasant things 
in this lovely little domain." 



Sunnyside. 



77 



Irvingfs life-long devotion to his lady love. 



" It is singular," replied the colonel, " but it must 
be charged to the extreme delicacy of his feelings. 
He did woo and win the love of one every way 




ir.VIXG'S STUDY. 



worthy of his affections. But she died before the 
bridal day, and his sensitive heart remained so wed- 
ded to her memory that it never looked for an- 
other to fill her place." 

Their attention was next turned to the legends 



78 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Wolferfs Eoost. A Dutch patriot. 

and stories connected with the spot on which the 
Sunnyside mansion is built. It was once occupied 
by the house of Wolfert Acker, one of Peter 
Stuyvesant's privy councilors, and a man of whom 
Diedrich Knickerbocker ironically says, " he was 
kept in a constant fume and fret by the perverse- 
ness of mankind. Had he served on a modern jury, 
he would have been sure to have eleven unreason- 
able men opposed to him. His house," says the 
same chronicler, " was a little, old-fashioned stone 
mansion, all made up of gable ends, and as full of 
angles and corners as an old cocked hat." " He 
called it 'Wolfert's Rest;' but people" who did not 
understand Dutch " called it ' Wolfert \s Roost." 

It was afterward owned by Jacob Van Tassel, 
who became noted for his patriotism during the 
Revolutionary war. He owned a famous goose gun, 
armed with which he was wont to hide behind the 
rocks along shore and shoot the British, whose 
boats sometimes came within the range of his for- 
midable gun. He was finally captured and sent to 
New York. His house was burned by the enemy, 
albeit it was bravely defended by his " stout-hearted 
spouse, his redoubtable sister, Notchie Van Wur- 
mer, and Dinah, a strapping negro wench, with 
mops, broomsticks, shovels, tongs, . . . and, above 
all, with that most potent of female weapons, the 



Sunny side. 79 

Romantic associations. Searching for truants. 

tongue." The worthy Jacob rebuilt it after the 
war, but in size and style more in harmony with his 
ruined fortune than with its former self. 

It was here, too, that Katrina Van Tassel had 
that notable quilting frolic from which her unlucky 
suitor, Ichabod Crane, was followed by the Head- 
less Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. In fact, the air 
of the place seemed to be filled with the spirit of 
romance, and almost every object, within and with- 
out the mansion, was suggestive either of times 
that are no more, or of the uncanny beings with 
which the superstitions of our honest Dutch fore- 
fathers peopled brook and brake, woodland and 
river. 

So absorbed were our party in talking of these 
romantic associations that they did not notice the 
absence of Arthur and Miss Jennie until just as they 
were preparing to leave. Said the colonel, — 

" I will go in pursuit of the truants while you 
walk toward the carriages." 

He did not have far to go, for he found them sit- 
ting near the river-side, with arms entwined very 
lovingly round each other's waist. Their unbecom- 
ing position surprised him, and in a somewhat sharp 
and angry tone he said, — 

"Arthur, what do you mean?" 

The young couple started to their feet, turned 



80 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The colonel's auger. Blushing boy and girl. 

round, and stood with downcast eyes and blushing 
cheeks, not knowing what to reply. After looking 
sternly at them for a moment or two, the colonel 
remarked, — 

" Arthur, I am ashamed of you ! " 

This remark roused the lad to an attempt at self- 
defense, and without raising his eyes, he replied in 
a husky voice, 

"We are engaged, sir." 

" Engaged to do what?" the colonel angrily de- 
manded. 

" To be married, sir." 

For a moment the colonel's temper prompted him 
to make an angry response. But in another instant 
the ridiculous side of the question presented itself 
to his mind. The idea of a penniless boy of sixteen 
engaging to marry a helpless girl of like age rose 
before him in all its absurdity, and he broke into a 
fit of uncontrollable laughter. Then thinking that, 
what looked so incomparably silly to him might 
possibly seem more serious to the blushing boy and 
girl before him, he restrained his merriment. Turn- 
ing to Arthur he said kindly, but decidedly, — 

" I will talk to you about this matter hereafter, 
my boy. Run on and join your brother at the en- 
trance gate. Tell them that Miss Jennie and I will 
be there directly." 



Sunny side. 8 1 

Jennie in a bad humor. 



Then offering his arm to his niece, he escorted 
her across the lawn, descanting, as they walked, 
upon the beauties of Sunnyside. But poor Jennie 
was too much vexed to be at all companionable. 
She only frowned, pouted, and replied in mono- 
syllables to his questions ; while in her heart she 
indulged in such angry thoughts as would have 
astonished her uncle had they been coined into 

spoken words. 
4* 



82 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Sleepy Hollow. 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM SLEEPY HOLLOW TO ROCKLAND LAKE. 

JOWARD evening our party, refreshed by a 
bountiful dinner and a few hours of repose in 
the villa of their host, sauntered out to visit the 
ancient Dutch Church, the oldest in the State, which 
stands near the Sleepy Hollow of Irving's well- 
known legend, and near which they found the 
modest grave of Washington Irving. The " Hollow " 
they found to be a portion of the Valley of the Po- 
canteco. They stood Upon the rustic bridge, which 
spans " a deep, black part of the stream, not far 
from the church," and recalled Irving's description, 
which says, " the road that led to it, and the bridge 
itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, 
which cast a gloom about it even in the day-time, 
and occasioned a fearful darkness at night." While 
in this vicinity they recalled the main points of the 
legend. 

They drew mental pictures of the tall, ungainly 
pedagogue, Ichabod Crane, who had come from 
Connecticut to instruct the " tough, wrong-headed, 
broad-skirted Dutch urchins," and to teach singing 



From Sleepy Hollow to Rockland Lake. 83 



Mental Pictures. 




SLEEPY HOLLOW BRIDGE. 



to the hard-fisted young men and to the stout, 
strong-armed, blooming maidens of Tarwe Town. 
They imagined his awkward approaches to the 



84 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Ichabod and the mysterious horseman. 

maiden, Katrina of Wolfert's Roost, with whom it 
was his misfortune to fall in love, and the resentful 
glances of his more favored rival, the " stalwart, bony 
Brom Van Brunt," whose vindictive jealousy moved 
him to a ludicrous scheme for driving poor Ichabod 
from the neighborhood of the buxom daughter of 
Van Tassel. 

In an unlucky hour, Ichabod went to a quilting 
party at Katrina's home, riding thither upon a horse 
characteristically named " Gunpowder." The frolic 
being over, Ichabod tarried awhile to say some ten- 
der words to the reluctant maiden ; but her responses 
chilled his hopes, and caused him to leave her side 
in a mood which was far from being a merry one. 
Then, mounting " Gunpowder," the rebuffed lover 
rode gloomily homeward. But when he was within 
half a mile of the bridge, " a horse and rider, huge, 
black, and mysterious, suddenly appeared at his 
side." Ichabod looked round, and to his horror 
discovered that the rider carried his head in his 
hand, on the pommel of his saddle. The mysteri- 
ous spectacle terrified him. He put " Gunpowder" 
upon his mettle, and rode furiously across the bridge, 
trusting the demon would not dare to follow him 
across running water. But it did, and instead of 
disappearing in a cloud of fire and smoke, rose in 
the stirrups and hurled its head upon the luckless 



From Sleepy Hollow to Rockland Lake. 85 

The schoolmasters terror. "Brom Bones 1 ' and his Katrina. 

Ichabod ! Its aim was unerring. The demon's head 
fell, with a terrible crash, on the schoolmaster's skull, 
and, slipping from the saddle, the terror-stricken 
simpleton fell to the ground. " Gunpowder," freed 
from his rider, galloped to his stable, and the 
" goblin-rider passed like a whirlwind." A smashed 
pumpkin, found on the road next day, might have 
taught those thick-headed Dutchmen that the head- 
less rider was no other than Ichabod's rival, the 
bold " Brom Bones," as Van Brunt was nicknamed, 
and that shame drove the luckless schoolmaster 
back to Connecticut ; but they, being wise in demon- 
lore, chose to believe that a dead Hessian, whose 
head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, and 
who was wont to ride through the Hollow in search 
of it, was the grim goblin which had spirited the 
schoolmaster away. Brom Van Brunt, however, kept 
his own counsel, and, no doubt, chuckled over it 
with more vanity than grace, when, shortly after, 
he led the buxom Katrina to the marriage altar. 

After commenting with much fun on this old 
legend, and enjoying the pleasing scenery of the 
Hollow, our party walked back to a spot near the 
center of the town, on which the unfortunate Major 
Andre was arrested by three honest militia-men. 
A marble monument marks the scene, and records 
the fidelity of Paulding, Van Wart, and Williams. 



S6 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The capture of Andre. 



" The act of those three men deserves to be re- 
membered," observed the colonel. " Had they been 
selfish enough to accept the price Andre" proffered 

for permission to 
pass this spot, 
our Revolution 
might have had 
a less fortunate 
H ending." 



"And if the 
young major had 
acted more dis- 
creetly when he 
met those three 
honest farmers, 
he might have 
rode past them 
without suspicion. He mistook them for tories, and 
foolishly, for his own interests, declared himself a 
British officer. That declaration saved us West 
Point, but cost him his life. It was one of the many 
little things which occurred during our Revolution- 
ary war that reveal the finger of Providence as real- 
ly as did our most celebrated victories." 

These just remarks by the host of our party led 
to numerous inquiries on the part of Clarence, Edith, 
and Mrs. Stuart, to which the colonel and his friend 




6pot os which andke was akkested. 



From Sleepy Hollow to Rockland Lake. 87 

Andre 1 and Arnold. Three armed rustics. 

replied so fully that they left the following impres- 
sions respecting young Andre and his capture on 
the young people's minds : — 

Young Andre had been sent by the British com- 
mander, at Arnold's request, to meet the latter and 
arrange for the treacherous surrender of West Point. 
The vile bargain had been made. The fatal papers 
were in the feet of Andre's stockings. He was to be 
taken down the river in a boat to the. English frig- 
ate " Vulture." But a cannonade from the shore 
had compelled her to descend the stream, and An- 
dre's guide, J. H. Smith, refused to take him to her 
by boat. Hence, guided by Smith, he rode to Pine's 
Bridge, from whence he pursued his journey alone. 

On that eventful morning three armed rustics 
were playing cards under a clump of trees near a 
spring which bubbled up close by a little stream in 
Tarrytown, still known as Andre's brook. The men 
were volunteer patriots, on the lookout for tory Cow 
Boys and suspicious strangers. In the midst of their 
game the sound of an approaching horse startled 
them. Leaping to their feet they saw a horseman 
in civilian's dress, but riding with an evidently mili- 
tary air and manner. One of these men, Paulding, 
had on the dress of a German soldier, in which he 
had escaped from captivity in New York. For this 
reason Andre supposed that he and his comrades 



88 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Andre's mistake. The search. 

were in sympathy with the British, and exclaimed, 
as he rode up : — - 

" Thank God, I am once more among friends ! " 

'• Stop ! " cried Paulding, presenting his musket. 

" Gentlemen," replied Andre as he reined in his 
steed, " I hope you belong to our party." 

"What party?" asked Paulding. 

" The Lower party," responded the major. 

" I do," said Paulding. 

This answer threw Andre off his guard, and he 
replied, " I am a British officer, out in the country 
on particular business ; I hope you will not detain 
me a minute." 

Vain hope ! Paulding sternly bade him dismount ; 
a command which opened Andre's eyes to the fact 
that he was in the hands of patriots. Hoping to 
satisfy them, he showed them a passport signed by 
the then unsuspected traitor, Arnold. This, but for 
his previous avowal, would have been sufficient, no 
doubt ; but now the suspicions of these simple farm- 
ers were aroused. They again bade him dismount. 
He protested, and even threatened, but without 
avail. They compelled him to dismount, and lead- 
ing him into a thicket searched him. Even then he 
would have escaped but for the accidental fact that 
just as he was about to dress, one of his captors 
noticed something unusual in the feet of his stock- 



From Sleepy Hollow to Rockland Lake. 



8 9 



The discovery. 



The arrest. 



ings. A further examination revealed the fact that 
their prisoner was a spy with memoranda of the 
fortifications of West Point, obtained from its treach- 
erous commander. Finding that his real character 




ANDKK ARRESTED. 



was discovered, Andre offered rich bribes to his cap- 
tors, but their patriotism was stronger than their 
cupidity, and they forthwith conducted him to the 
nearest American post and delivered him up to its 
commander. This sealed his fate. He was tried as 
a spy, and hanged at Tappan nine days after his 



go Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A singular coincidence. A private conversation. 

capture. But for the unaccountable stupidity of the 
officer into whose hands Andre was delivered, in 
sending information of his capture to Arnold, the 
latter would have shared his fate instead of escap- 
ing, as he did, to the " Vulture," a British ship of 
war lying in the Hudson. 

They were also told by their host that the noble 
whitewood or tulip tree beneath which Major Andre 
was arrested was smitten by lightning on the very 
day that the news of the traitor Arnold's death, 
in 1 80 1, reached Tarry town, concerning which fact 
the colonel with much gravity remarked : — 

il A singular coincidence; a very singular coinci- 
dence ! " 

After giving due expression to their regret that 
the traitor should have escaped, and the less guilty 
and personally noble spy should have brought upon 
himself so ignoble a fate, our party returned to their 
host's villa in Irving Park. 

During the evening the colonel took occasion 
to talk privately to Arthur respecting his engage- 
ment with Miss Jennie. He did not scold the really 
sensible lad, but reasoned with him on the folly of 
even thinking about marriage as a near event, at his 
age and in his circumstances. He closed his re- 
marks by saying : — 

" Had you finished your education, my boy, stud- 



From Sleepy Hollow to Rockland Lake. 9 1 

Sensible advice. Awkward situations. 

ied your profession, and were you mature enough 
to judge whether your attachment to my niece be a 
mere boyish fancy or a true affection growing out 
of a real esteem for her character, I should be most 
happy to see you married to her. But since neither 
of these things are attained, I shall take very de- 
cided steps for keeping you apart unless you pledge 
your honor, after one more private interview with 
the young lady, to dissolve your engagement, and 
not to renew it without my consent. 

Had Arthur been a silly, hair-brained boy, he 
would have rebelled against this decision ; but be- 
ing a lad of good sense, in spite of his foolish love 
passage with Jennie, he pledged his honor that he 
would meet the colonel's wish. And as Miss Jen- 
nie, after a violent fit of weeping, was brought to 
make a similar promise to her mother, the two 
cousins, after a few awkward situations, soon fell 
into their old ways and feelings toward each other. 
Young as they were, they found by experience that 
love is not that irresistible madness which is de- 
scribed in unwholesome novels, but a feeling readily 
kept under control by all who choose to hold the 
reins. 

The next morning the colonel proposed to as- 
cend the Hudson by one of the morning boats to 
Peekskill, but his host playfully remarked : — 



92 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The name of Tarrytown. On board a yacht. 



" That cannot be, colonel ! You must conform 
to the traditions of this town as recorded for your 
edification by that most veracious historian, Died- 
rich Knickerbocker. He tells us that our town re- 
ceived its name from the fact that when the old 
Dutch farmers came here on business they were 
wont to tarry a long time, very much to the profit 
of those who sold the drinks they loved but too well, 
but to the vexation of their vrows at home. Seeing, 
therefore, that you are in Tarrytown* you must not 
hasten away, for I have arranged with a friend to take 
us in his yacht this afternoon across Tappan Bay." 

" Well, well, since it is not by the attraction of 
strong waters you seek to make us tarry," retorted 
the colonel, smiling, " but by that of a sail on 
smooth waters, I consent to the kind proposal, pro- 
vided it is agreeable to my sister and these young 
folks." 

Of course no one objected, and, after lunch, the 
party embarked in a trim little yacht, and were 
borne across the river to Piermont, with its long 
dock, built by the Erie Railway Company, running 
far out into the river, and its green bluffs rising 
abruptly behind its narrow strip of streets. Sailing 

* The Indians called it A-lip-conck y or Place of Elms, because 
that tree abounded there. The Dutch called it Terwen Dorp, or 
Wheat Town, because that grain was abundant in its neighborhood. 
See Lossing's " Hudson," p. 328. 



From Sleepy Hollozv to Rockland Lake. 93 

A steep road. A charming lake. 

into Tappan Bay they came to Nyack, four or five 
miles beyond, and greatly admired its situation on 
the beautiful slope of a lofty hill. Still farther up 
the river they came to Rockland Lake village, op- 
posite Sing Sing, where their host proposed land- 
ing. Said he : — 

''If the ladies do not mind climbing up a steep 
road some two hundred feet, we can land here and 
visit the famous Rockland Lake." 

The ladies all asserted their ability to ascend the 
steep bank of the river. The yacht was, therefore, 
put alongside of a wharf belonging to the Knicker- 
bocker Ice Company, and our party speedily began 
the steep ascent. 

" Pretty tough work, this ! " exclaimed the pant- 
ing colonel several times on the way up ; but when 
they reached the lake, about half a mile from the 
river, and had gazed a few moments on its crystal 
waters, which cover about five hundred acres, and 
on the fertile country lying to the westward, bounded 
by blue mountains in the distance, he exclaimed, 

" What a charming little lake ! The view is worth 
all the fatigue it cost us to get here." 

" What delicious water ! " exclaimed Clarence after 
drinking from his hand. 

" Purer water can scarcely be found," replied their 
Tarrytown host. " It comes from springs fed by yon- 



94 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Ice-houses. 



Source of the Hackensack. 



der hills and mountains, and from little brooks which 
trickle down their sides." 

Their attention was next directed to the numer- 
ous ice-houses on the eastern margin of the lake, 




HOOK LAND LAKE. 



from which so large a portion of the ice used in New 
York is supplied. They learned, also, that the lake 
forms the chief source of the Hackensack River, 
which, after flowing through a charming country 
behind the Palisades, empties into Newark Bay. 

After having seen all that was worth seeing, our 
party descended to the shore and re-embarked in their 
pretty little yacht. Crossing Tappan Bay with a 
pleasant breeze, they sailed beyond Sing Sing to 



From Sleepy Hollozv to Rockland Lake. 95 



Croton I»ay. 



An old Manor house. 



Croton Bay. There, at their kind host's invitation, 
they landed and proceeded to the Van Cortlandt 
Manor-house. 




VAN CORTLANDT MANOR-HOUSE. 



This unique building, they were told, is a century 
and a half old. It was built of heavy -stone. Loop- 
holes for muskets once pierced its thick walls, for 
defense against the warlike Indians who in those 
days made frequent attacks upon the colonists. Its 
unhammered stone has been hidden by stucco, and 
Miss Jennie said it had a " cozy, homelike look." 

" These Van Cortlandts," remarked the colonel, 



g6 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The Van Cortlandts. The true nobility. 

" have a history. I think they descended from the 
Dukes of Courland, in Russia. Deprived of their 
dukedom by autocratic power, they emigrated first 
to Holland and then to America. Here the son of 
the first emigrant of this illustrious house pur- 
chased the large estate of which this manor is a 
part. They have since mingled their blood by inter- 
marriages with the best of the old colonial families." 

" These things all sound very nice," remarked 
Edith. " I think sometimes that I should like to feel 
that my ancestors were dukes, or princes, or lords 
of some sort ; but then I don't think that would 
make me any happier than I am now. Do you, 
uncle?" 

" Not in the least, my dear, not in the least. Our 
happiness does not depend on who our ancestors 
were, but on what we are ourselves. One may 
justly prize the fact that his immediate ancestors 
were honorable and virtuous ; but mere pride of 
ancestry is the silliest of all the forms of pride, since 
in reality all are children of one ancestor, the ban- 
ished lord of Eden. The best, the only real patent 
of nobility is derived from our adoption into the 
family of the Infinite One, through faith in David's 
royal Son. Such nobility is, indeed, honorable, and 
it inherits the privilege of happiness here and in 
the great hereafter." 



From Tarrytozvn to Stony Point. 97 

A wet day. Legendary lore. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FROM TARRYTOWN TO STONY POINT. 

HE next day was dull and wet, and our party, 
£X urgently pressed by their hospitable host and 
hostess, remained at the villa. This, of course, threw 
the young people much together, and put the honor 
of Arthur and Jennie to a severe test. They had, 
as you have already seen, wisely agreed to postpone 
all further love passages until they should arrive at 
a more suitable age. But they had set themselves 
a hard task, as they found when compelled to spend 
a day together within doors. However, their good 
sense and strong resolution aided them very effect- 
ually, and, but for some occasional blushing and 
blundering, they deported themselves very nearly as 
before their hastily begun endearments, which, as 
the reader must admit, was both wise and dutiful 
conduct. 

Among other pastimes resorted to that dull day 
was the relation of such legendary lore as they 
could recollect from their previous reading. Arthur, 
who was especially interested in the former savage 
lords of the river and adjacent country, and who 



98 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The story of Shingebiss. 

had been searching, but with poor success, for le- 
gends of the Hudson River tribes, related the follow- 
ing allegory, which had been told in many a Chip- 
pewa wigwam in the olden time. 

Indian story-tellers, he said, loved to tell of the 
wonderful Shingebiss, who could be man or duck at 
will. He was a lonely man, dwelling by himself, 
seeking friendship of no other Indians, but treating 
all who came to his wigwam with cheerful kindness. 
It chanced, one autumn, that he did not go South 
as usual when the ice-spirit began his reign over the 
North, but remained until the ice became thick, and 
the weather cold. When he was hungry he went 
where the flags grew, changed himself into a duck, 
pulled up the flags with his bill, dived through the 
hole thus made, caught plenty of fish, went home, 
ate his fish, laid down before his fire, smoked, and 
made himself very happy. 

This content of Shingebiss vexed the restless 
Kabibonocca, the god of the north-west wind. It 
looked like a defiance of his power, and he said : — 

" This must be a wonderful man. He does not 
mind the coldest day, but is as happy as if it were 
the moon of strawberries (June). I will give him 
cold blasts to his heart's content." 

Then the north-wind blew cold and stormy ; but 
Shingebiss was unmoved. He lived happily before 



From Tarrytown to Stony Point. 99 

Kabibonocca's assault on Shingebiss. 

his wigwam fire, or walked out and caught loads of 
fish in spite of the ice-spirit's anger. 

Kabibonocca's rage increased, and he said, " Shall 
he withstand me? I will visit him. I will see 
where his great power lies. If my presence does 
not freeze him he must be made of rock." 

Then Kabibonocca went to the lodge of Shinge- 
biss, and peeping in saw him eat his supper of fish ; 
saw him lying on his elbow before his fire ; heard 
him sing, 

Kabibonocca, neej ininee 

We-ya, Ah-ya-ya-ia 
Kabibonocco, neej ininee 

We-ye, Ah 

I aw reej ininee, aa, — ia, 
Shingebiss ia-ya, ya, ia. 

Windy god, I know your plan ; 

You are but my fellow-man ; 
Blow you may your coldest breeze, 

Shingebiss you cannot freeze. 
Sweep the strongest wind you can, 

Shingebiss is still your man ; 
Heigh for life, and hi for bliss, 

Who so free as Shingebiss." 

Then Kabibonocca went inside the lodge. Shinge- 
biss, undisturbed, still sat in profound repose. He 
was calm, easy, indifferent to the cold. He took 
his poker, stirred his fire, lay down, and sung his 
song again. 

Presently Kabibonocca began to weep. Said he, 



ioo Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The Indian's ideal of endurance. 

"I cannot stand this; the fellow will melt me if I 
do not go out." 

Thus saying he went out in a rage and froze up 
to thick ice every orifice wherein the flags grew. 
But Shingebiss *>nly went farther for his fish, and 
kept on his fire and his singing, until Kabibonocca 
said : — 

" He must be some Minito (spirit.) I can neither 
freeze him nor starve him. I will let him alone." 

" Pretty good ! " exclaimed the colonel when 
Arthur had finished his legend. " I like Shingebiss. 
He represents the Indian's ideal of endurance. Low 
as the red man was in most virtues, he certainly ex- 
celled in his ability to suffer. He was, indeed, the 
stoic of the forest. He knew how to endure even 
torture with a silent dignity, which few of us An- 
glo-Americans can equal." 

Our plan does not permit us to record the further 
conversation and movements of our friends at Tar- 
rytown, except to say, that the next day, which 
was Sabbath, they worshiped in the ancient, quaint 
little church already referred to, built in 1699, the 
oldest church edifice in the State of New York, 
standing near Sleepy Hollow. After service they 
again visited the new cemetery, just beyond, and 
stood, a second time, beside the humble grave of 
Irving, the magician, whose delightful pen has given 



From Tarrytown to Stoity Point. IOI 

On the river again. Sing Sing. 

immortality to the superstitious lore of the quaint, 
old Dutch people, who once owned the shores of 
the Hudson. Many kind words were spoken of that 
genial writer, and then, after enjoying the splendid 
view which delights the eye of every lover of the 
beautiful who visits it, they returned to their tem- 
porary home in Irving Park. 

The next morning found them on board a steam- 
er ascending the river. They were soon abreast of 
the flourishing village of Sing Sing,* which is " beau- 
tiful for situation." It is on the east bank of the 
river, which is here four miles wide. It reminded 
them, by its extensive prisons near the shore, quite 
as forcibly of those crimes which spoil human beauty 
as of that love for natural beauty which had chosen 
this delightful acclivity for the location of a town. 

"O!" exclaimed Edith with a shudder, as the 
boat glided past the prison buildings, " what a 
wretched life the poor creatures in those dreary- 
looking buildings must live!" 

" No doubt of that, my dear," replied the colonel ; 
" but we must not forget that their chief misery 
arises from what they are rather than from where 

* So named, say some, by a Dutch trader after the Chinese city of 
Tsing Tsing ; Lossing traces it to Sint-Sinck, the name of a tribe of 
the Mohegan Indians ; others trace it to the Indian name, Os-sin-ing, 
from ossin, a stone, and ing, a place— stony-place. The latter seems 
most probable. 



102 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The State-prison at Sing Sing. 

they are. They are treated kindly — too much so, 
possibly — fed with an abundance of wholesome food ; 
not overworked, lodged in comfortable cells, and are 




8TATE-PRIS0N AT SING SING. 



allowed the use of books and of religious privileges. 
In fact, they have every thing given them that is 
necessary to comfortable subsistence. Their chief 
punishment consists of deprivation of liberty and 
of enforced silence. The latter, no doubt, is very, 
very hard to endure. If solitary confinement were 
added to it, as was once the case, it would be fear- 



From Tarry tozvn to Stony Point 103 

The coloners opinions. Tapj>an Bay. 

ful. But the humane spirit of the Gospel has made 
the prison-life of modern criminals so endurable as 
to be but little dreaded by men who make crime 
the business of their lives." 

" But would you have the State return to the old 
methods of treating criminals, colonel?" asked Mrs. 
Stuart. 

" Not exactly. In fact, I have no very positive 
opinions on the difficult question of how T to treat 
criminals. I only think that the State-prison of to- 
day is not much dreaded by bad men. I incline to 
think that the expatriation of confirmed criminals to 
Alaska, or some other desolate land, where they 
would be compelled by circumstances to lead lives 
of industry or starve, would be a greater terror to 
evil-doers, and a likelier means of bringing about 
their restoration — but we are passing Sing Sing and 
approaching Croton, formerly Teller's, Point. 

Every eye was now turned toward the narrow 
neck of land which stretches nearly two miles out 
into the river, and divides Tappan Bay, or Tap- 
paanse Zee, as the Dutch called it, from Haver- 
straw Bay. This point, the colonel told them, was 
called Se-nas-qna by the Indians. An Englishman, 
not having very clear ideas of the ill effects of rum, 
bought the Point of the red men for a barrel of 
rum and twelve blankets. He changed its name 



io4 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Croton Point. 



A lovely bay. 



to Sarah's Point, in honor of his wife ; but the 
public, less gallant than the husband, called it Tel- 
ler's Point until lately, when the same capricious 
authority changed it to Croton Point. 




CROTON POINT, FROM SING SING. 

Before reaching the Point the colonel pointed 
them to the mouth of the Croton River and said, — 

" I wish we had time and opportunity to ascend 
Croton Bay into the river. The bay, with its little 
islet, its miniature inlets, and its jutting points, is 
like a portion of fairyland. On a still day and in a 
hazy atmosphere one feels as if he were in some 
dreamy " land of drowsy head." The scenery of the 



From Tarry town to Stony Point. 105 





MOUTH OF THE CKOTON. 



river 



itself is very picturesque. I was very much 
struck with its beauty, especially in the vicinity of 
the rickety old High Bridge." 



106 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Sources of the Croton. Haverstraw Bay. 

" Uncle, is that the river which supplies New 
York with water?" asked Jennie. 

" The very same, my dear." 

" Where did it get its name, sir?" inquired Clar- 
ence. 

11 Tradition derives it from an Indian sachem 
named Croton. The Indians themselves called it 
KitcJi-a-wan, the swift stream. It rises in the green 
hills of Putnam and Dutchess. Its waters are very 
pure. They are collected into a vast reservoir, 
which is, in fact, an artificial lake, six miles long, 
formed by a dam, and containing five hundred mill- 
ion gallons of water. This flows into that wonder- 
ful aqueduct, forty miles in length, by which the 
people of New York are supplied with water, at the 
rate of forty thousand gallons per minute. At some 
future time we must visit this vast reservoir and 
other great works connected with it. Now, we are 
just rounding the Point and entering Haverstraw 
Bay." 

The young people were greatly interested in 
Haverstraw, which lies on the west shore of the 
river, about thirty-seven miles from New York, be- 
cause the scene of Arnold's secret meeting with 
Andre was in an estuary just below it. The colonel 
related the facts with such graphic power that the 
scenes rose in their minds like a series of pictures. 



From Tarrytozvn to Stony Point. 



107 



Meeting place of the traitor and spy. 



They mentally saw the mysterious movement of a 
boat with muffled oars, held by a single boatman, 
paddling out from the creek at midnight and ap- 
proaching the " Vulture," which lay like a vast shad- 




1I1GH BUIDGE OVER THE CKOTON. 



ow on the river. They saw the descent of Andre 
from the frigate in dead silence, and the boat mov- 
ing back to the creek. They watched the boatman 
as he guided his companion into a thicket, and they 
heard him whisper his introduction as John Ander- 
son (his assumed name) to Gustavus (Arnold's as- 
sumed name). They gazed on the traitor and the 
spy, standing in the deep shadows of the trees, talk- 



io8 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Movements of the spy and traitor. 



ing with earnestness, but in whispers, and with fre- 
quent starts and suspicious glances on every side. 
They pictured the gradual breaking of night into 
morning, the return and warning words of the boat- 




CROTON HAM. 



man, Joshua H. Smith, the mounting of Andre and 
Arnold upon the latter's horses, the ride within the 
American lines, the sentinel's challenge, Andre's 
hesitation, Arnold's attempt to assure him of safety, 
their ride to Smith's house on Treason Hill, the 
alarm of both as the heavy boom of a gun from the 
river below fell on their ears, Andre's disquietude 



From Tarrytown to Stony Point. 



109 



Mental pictures which seemed real. 



when he saw the " Vulture" drop down the river, 
beyond the range of the shots which were assail- 
ing it from Croton Point, the hiding of the fatal 
papers in the spy's stockings, his passage across the 




GRASSY I'olNT AND TORN* MOUNTAIN. 



river under Smith's escort, and his ride to Tarry- 
town, where he fell into the hands of the patriot 
guards. All these pictures seemed like passing 
realities as they listened, and so engaged their at- 
tention that they started when some one near them 
said to a companion : — 



no Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Hendrick Hudson and the Indians. 

" That little village on yonder tongue of land is 
Grassy Point." 

" Grassy Point ! " exclaimed the colonel, pointing 
toward the west side of the river ; " that is a little 
brick-making community. t We shall soon be at Stony 
Point." 

" That's where old Hendrick Hudson had an 
affray with the up-river Indians," observed Arthur. 
" They crowded round his vessel in such numbers 
that he had to use fire-arms to keep them back. 
He killed one of their number, and that changed 
them from wonder-stricken friends into blood-thirsty 
enemies." 

" I don't see how he could have done otherwise, 
though," observed the colonel. " It would not have 
been either prudent or safe to let them crowd into 
his little craft. But now we can see Stony Point 
clearly. You observe there is nothing of it but a 
rough granite promontory jutting into the river and 
crowned with a light-house and a fog bell. But, 
barren and useless as it is, it is rich in heroic asso- 
ciations. The capture of the fort by " Mad Anthony " 
was one of the most daring deeds of our Revolution- 
ary war." 

"Tell us about it if you please, sir," said Clarence. 

The colonel, nothing loth, then told them that 
early in the war our patriot fathers built a fort on 



From Tarrytown to Stony Point. 



ill 



Two famous forts. 



Stony Point, and also on Verplanck's Point opposite, 
on the east side of the river. As these forts com- 
manded the river, the British attacked them with 
superior numbers and captured them without loss 




verplanck's point, fkom stony point light-uouse. 

on either side. But seeing how important these 
lost forts were to the command of the Highlands of 
the Hudson, Washington resolved to recapture and 
hold them. With his habitual caution, he first made 
himself thoroughly acquainted with the works and 
the approaches thereto. This done, he committed 



ii2 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A midnight assault. 

the perilous task to General Anthony Wayne, called 
"Mad Anthony," because of his daring character. 
He, fully aware of the danger to be confronted, ac- 
cepted the command with a remark which was as 
profane as it was bold. With only two hundred and 
ninety men he marched, on the night of July 15, 
1779, to attempt the seemingly hopeless task. 

The fort crowned the promontory, as the light- 
house does now. The waves of the Hudson washed 
the sides of the hill and overflowed a morass at high 
water on another side. Abatis surrounded the hill. 
The fort bristled with cannon. But Wayne forded 
the morass, formed his men into two columns, and, 
at or shortly after midnight, moved in silence 
to the attack. His devoted men marched up the 
hill hoping to surprise the foe. But the sentinels 
were wary and watchful. The alarm was given, the 
drums rolled, the cry, to arms ! to arms ! echoed 
through the fort. The garrison rushed to the ram- 
parts and poured fearful showers of iron hail down 
upon the assailants. But, nothing daunted, our pa- 
triot soldiers pressed over the abatis, marched over 
their own dead, advanced steadfastly up the heights, 
as their heroic leader kept shouting " Forward ! 
Forward ! " A shot grazed " Mad Anthony's " head 
and brought him down to his knees ; but while the 
blood from his wound blinded his eyes, he shouted : — 



From Tarrytown to Stony Point. 



113 



"Mad Anthony's" victory. 



" March on ! Carry me into the fort. I will die 
at the head of my column." 




ANTHONY WAYNE. 



And march on they did until both columns met 
in the middle of the fort. The British cried for 
quarter. The patriots wildly shouted, " Victory ! 
victory! " and at two o'clock " Mad Anthony," not 
seriously hurt by his wound, wrote these telling 
words to Washington : — 



ii4 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Splendid fighting. Two great wars. 

" Stony Point, 2 A.M. 
" Dear General : — The American flag waves 
here!" 

" Yours truly, Anthony Wayne." 

" That was splendid fighting ! " exclaimed Clar- 
ence enthusiastically. " I should like to do such a 
deed if I were a soldier." 

Edith cast a sad, reproachful look on the young 
man. Her mild nature could see nothing but the 
painful side of battle scenes. Her tender sympathy 
for the suffering swallowed up her admiration for 
the hero whose greenest laurels sprang from the 
blood of his fellow-creatures. The colonel noticed 
her expression, read its meaning, and said : — 

" Edith does not admire military heroes. Her 
heart is too soft to find pleasure in their loftiest 
deeds. May be she is right. War is terrible, and is 
never right except when waged against evils, which, 
owing to the vast range of their influence, are worse 
than war in their aggregate results. Our war for 
political liberty a hundred years ago, and our recent 
war to preserve the unity of our country, were both 
of this character. While, therefore, we shiver when 
we look at the suffering and loss of life they in- 
volved, we must not refuse our admiration to the 
heroic men to whose courage we owe our victories." 



Through the Highlands. 1 1 5 

A. pent-up river. Gigantic exploit. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THROUGH THE HIGHLANDS. 

HE boat was by this time approaching the most 
(3^, attractive portion of our magnificent river — 
the Highlands. Said the colonel, as he pointed to- 
ward the tall, misty hills from between which the 
stream issued like some huge Python emerging from 
its den : — 

" We are now about to pass some of the finest 
scenery in the world. For the next twenty miles 
we shall find this majestic river pent in between 
cliffs which rise from one thousand to fifteen hun- 
dred feet high — forming a gap which suggests that 
at some time, in ages past, this river, anciently a 
vast lake, broke through its rocky barriers and cut 
for itself a passage to the sea." 

" I recollect some lines descriptive of that sup- 
posed gigantic exploit," remarked Clarence in a tone 
slightly sarcastic. " The poet says of it : — 

" ' The pent-up flood, impatient of control, 

In ages past here burst its granite bound, 
Then to the sea in broad meanders stole. 

While pond'rous ruin strewed the broken ground, 

And these gigantic hills forever closed around.' " 



n6 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Unrivaled natural beauty. Peekskill. 

"Graphic lines! but I suspect you doubt their 
truth, Clarence," observed Mrs. Stuart. 

" I think that probably we know quite as much 
about it as the poet did," replied Clarence, laugh- 
ing. 

" Very likely, very likely," replied the colonel ; 
" men may talk with much show of wisdom con- 
cerning the ways in which nature did her work in 
the long, long ago; but they really know very little 
about it. This much, however, we shall soon find 
to be true : our course lies between heights in which 
our majestic Hudson possesses unrivaled beauties. 
To use a poet's language : — 

" ' By wooded bluffs we steal, by leaning lawn, 
By palace, village, cot ; a sweet surprise, 
At every turn, the vision breaks upon.' " 

The boat, after touching at Caldwell's Landing, 
which lies on the west side of the river, forty-four 
miles from New York, directly under the Donder- 
berg Mountain, proceeded toward Peekskill, two 
miles higher up on the eastern side. 

"Peekskill!" exclaimed Jennie, " what a queer 
name." 

" It was derived from an old Dutch captain, 
named Jan Peek," replied the colonel. " He mis- 
took the creek which enters the river here for the 
head waters of the Hudson, ran his vessel ashore, 



Through the Highlands. 



"7 



Peekskill. 



Paulding's monument. 




THE PEEKSKILL IN WINTER BY MOONLIGHT. 

and began the settlement of yon slope on which the 
village is so cosily built. The Indians called it 
Mag-ri-ga-ries, and its vi- 
cinity Sack-hoes. It was 
the birthplace of John & 
Paulding, one of the cap- 3feif ||| 



tors of Andre, as you *jml 
doubtless remember, and ^ 
its grave-yard contains a -Jl§| 
marble monument to his 
memory." 




PAULDING S MONUMENT. 



n8 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The beautiful spy. The treason tree. 

" I chiefly remember it," remarked Mrs. Stuart, 
" as the residence of the beautiful female spy, 
Miss Moncrieff, who, during the war of the Revo- 
lution, made her charms the instrument of win- 
ning military information, which she sent to our 
enemies." 

At the request of her daughters Mrs. Stuart then 
told the story of Miss Moncrieffs pretended sym- 
pathy with the patriots, by which she so won the 
confidence of well-informed gentlemen as to worm 
from them important information respecting the 
intended movements of our revolutionary army. 
Whatever she thus learned she wrote down, and 
hid the tell-tale papers near a tree previously des- 
ignated. Her notes were taken by sympathetic 
tories, and passed from hand to hand to the British 
head-quarters in New York. 

Her trips to this treason tree were made on 
horseback. She rode a spirited animal, which she 
managed with the skill and courage of an Amazon. 
But one day, while on her guilty errand, a dog 
startled her horse so that she lost her seat and fell, 
badly stunned, to the ground. The owners of a 
neighboring farm-house picked her up, and, after 
conveying her to their house, laid her on a bed. In 
their efforts for her restoration they unbuttoned the 
vest of her riding habit. On recovering conscious- 



TJiroiigh the HigJrfands. 119 

The spy discovered. Her life spared. 

_ 

ness she noticed that her vest was open, and start- 
ing up, exclaimed, with intense agitation, 

" Who unbuttoned my waistcoat ? Where is the 
letter? Ah! I am lost, lost!" 

Had she betrayed less emotion she would have re- 
covered the traitorous letter from the unsuspecting 
woman who held it. But her agitated manner ex- 
cited the suspicion of a man present, and he sprang 
forward and snatched the missive from the woman's 
hand. Miss Moncrieff begged him, with agonizing 
earnestness, to restore it to her. But he, seeing it 
was addressed to some one in New York, positively 
refused. Upon this the lady, finding herself unin- 
jured by her fall, left the house, hastened to her 
residence, and prepared for instant flight to the 
British lines. Her preparations were cut short, 
however, by the entrance of a patriot officer, who 
placed her under arrest. 

The letter was found to contain important infor- 
mation of an intended movement by the American 
army. An examination brought out complete evi- 
dence of treasonable practices. By the laws of war 
her life was forfeited ; but her sex, her youth, her 
beauty, and the aversion of the Americans to deal 
harshly with a woman, saved her life. She was held 
as a prisoner for some time, but was never brought 
to trial. She was finally restored to her friends. 



120 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



What is expected of women. 



"An interesting but painful story," remarked the 
colonel. "Treason, or any other crime, indeed, ap- 
pears worse in a woman than in a man, because, I 
suppose, we naturally expect to find a woman, espe- 




WINTEB FISHING. 



daily an accomplished one, on the side of whatever 
is noble and true." 

As they swept past Peekskill Bay the colonel told 
them that in winter time he had often seen one por- 
tion of it alive with fishermen. 

" Fishing in winter, uncle ! " exclaimed Edith, 



Through the Highlands. 121 

Fishing beneath the ice. Ice-boats. 

with a look of surprise. " How is that possible ? 
Doesn't it freeze here?" 

" O yes, it freezes hard enough to satisfy a Green- 
lander ; but these ingenious Peekskill men cut long, 
narrow fissures in the ice, through which they let 
down their nets at right angles with the tidal cur- 
rents. Twice a day they pull up their nets, and 
rarely without capturing numerous striped bass, 
white perch, or young sturgeon. This kind of fish- 
ing is carried on from the Donderberg to Piermont, 
and is said to be as profitable as summer fishing." 

"Your speaking of fishermen on the ice," ob- 
served Arthur, " reminds me, sir, of the reports I 
have read about the ice-boat's used on the Hudson. 
Did you ever see them, sir?" 

" Yes, my son ; this bay, like many other places 
on the river, is often gay with swift running ice- 
boats and merry skaters. I saw many of the former 
and hundreds of the latter last winter, making the 
bay almost as gay as the Corso at Rome, during 
the Carnival, but far less silly. The ice-boat is of 
many forms, but is usually a triangular platform on 
runners shod with skate-irons. ' The rear runner is 
worked on a pivot or hinge, by a tiller attached to a 
post which passes through the platform, and there- 
by the boat is steered.' The sails and rigging are 
such as we use in sail boats. It is a very exciting 



122 SUMMER Days on the Hudson. 



Southern gate of the Highlands. 



method of traveling, and greatly enjoyed by young 
and old who have courage to try it." 

During this conversation the steamer had ap- 
proached and passed Donderberg Point, into the 














ICE-BOAT AND SKATERS ON PKEKSKILL BAY. 

swift current popularly known as the Horse Race, 
which runs for over a mile through a narrow chan- 
nel formed by the flank of the Donderberg on one 
side and of Anthony's Nose on the other. This 
gorge is the southern gate of the Highlands, and 
introduces the traveler to a region famous in an- 



Through the HigJilands. 



123 



A. goblin region. 



cient legends as the abode of imps, specters, and 
goblins, which were much given to play mischievous 
and sometimes malicious pranks with ancient voy- 





DONDEIIBF.RG POINT. 



agers on the river, and with the dwellers in these 
mysterious parts. 

Of course our party, whose interest in these le- 
gends had been rendered keen, and even intense, 
by reading Irving's matchless stones, took occasion 
to refresh their recollection of these legends while 



124 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The phantom ship. A Dutch goblin. 

passing through this gorge by conversing upon their 
details. Instead of recording their remarks I will 
quote a few passages from Irving's story of " Dolph 
Heyliger," and from the veracious record of his im- 
mortal Diedrich Knickerbocker. 

Speaking of the phantom ship, already described 
in these pages, which, after sailing up the river, dis- 
appeared in the Highlands, Irving says: — 

" Since that time we have no authentic accounts 
of her, though it is said she still haunts the High- 
lands, and cruises about Point-no-Point. People 
who live along the river insist that they sometimes 
see her in summer moonlight ; that in a deep, still 
midnight they have heard the chant of her crew as 
if heaving the lead ; but sights and sounds are so 
deceptive along the mountainous shores, and about 
the wide bays and long reaches of this great river, 
that I confess I have very strong doubts upon the 
subject. 

" It is certain, nevertheless, that strange things 
have been seen in these Highlands in storms, which 
are considered as connected with the old story of 
the ship. The captains of the river craft talk of a 
little bulbous-bottomed Dutch goblin, in trunk-hose 
and sugar-loafed hat, with a speaking-trumpet in 
his hand, which, they say, keeps about the Donder- 
berg. They declare that they have heard him in 



ThrougJi the Highlands. 125 



A goblin's gale. The Heer's hat. 



stormy weather, in the miclst of the turmoil, giving 
orders in low Dutch for the piping up of a fresh 
gust of wind, or the rattling off of another thunder- 
clap. That sometimes he has been seen surround- 
ed by a crew of little imps in broad breeches and 
short doublets ; tumbling head over heels in the 
rack and mist, and playing a thousand gambols in 
the air ; or buzzing, like a swarm of flies, about 
Anthony's Nose ; and that at such times the hurry- 
scurry of the storm was always greatest. One time 
a sloop in passing by the Donderberg was overtaken 
by a thunder-gust that came sweeping round the 
mountain, and seemed to burst just over the vessel. 
Though tight and well ballasted she labored dread- 
fully, and the water came over the gunwale. All 
the crew were amazed when it was discovered that 
there was a little white sugar-loaf hat on the mast- 
head, known at once as the hat of the Heer of the 
Donderberg. Nobody, however, dared to climb to 
the mast-head and get rid of this terrible hat. The 
sloop continued laboring and rocking as if she 
would have rolled her mast overboard, and seemed 
in continual danger either of upsetting or running 
on shore. In this way she drove quite through the 
Highlands, until she had passed Pollopel's Island, 
where, it is said, the jurisdiction of the Donderberg 
potentate ceases. No sooner had she passed this 



126 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The horse-shoe on the mast. Doing homage to the goblin. 

bourne than the little hat spun up into the air like 
a top, whirled up all the clouds into a vortex, and 
hurried them back to the summit of the Donder- 
berg, while the sloop righted herself and sailed on 
as quietly as if on a mill-pond. Nothing saved her 
from utter wreck but the fortunate circumstance of 
having a horse-shoe nailed against the mast ; a wise 
precaution against evil spirits, since adopted by all 
Dutch captains that navigate this haunted river. 

" There is another story told of this foul weather 
urchin by Skipper Daniel Ouslesticker, of Fishkill, 
who was never known to tell a lie. He declared 
that in a severe squall he saw him seated astride of 
his bowsprit, riding the sloop ashore, full 'butt against 
Anthony's Nose ; and that he was exorcised by 
Dominie Van Geisen, of Esopus, who happened to 
be on board, and who sang the hymn of St. Nich- 
olas, whereupon the goblin threw himself up in the 
air like a ball, and went off in a whirlwind, carrying 
away with him the nightcap of the dominie's wife, 
which was discovered the next Sunday morning 
hanging on the weather-cock of Esopus church 
steeple, at least forty miles off. Several events of 
this kind having taken place, the regular skippers, 
for a long time, did not venture to pass the Donder- 
berg without lowering their peaks out of homage 
to the Heer of the mountains, and it was observed 



TJirougJi the Highlands. 127 

The mother of superstition. 

that all such as paid this tribute of respect were 
suffered to pass unmolested." 

" Do you suppose, uncle, that any body ever seri- 
ously believed in such nonsense?" asked Edith, 
when Arthur had finished the relation of these 
legends. 

" Ignorance is the mother of many superstitions, 
my dear, and many of the Dutch were very ignorant. 
That class, no doubt, believed in some such weird 
stories, but intelligent people regarded them as we 
do, though, in those days, many even of this class 
believed in specters, wizards, and witches. But we 
must not lose sight of the rare scenery of these re- 
markable waters while we are talking about their 
legends." 

The colonel then called their attention to a steep 
valley lying between Anthony's Nose and another 
almost equally lofty height half a mile below it. He 
told them that a wild stream, known as the Brocken 
Kill, or Broken Creek, because seen only in bits be- 
tween the rocks and shrubs, runs down that rude 
valley, forming in rainy weather a dashing torrent, 
and in dry weather a series of charming cascades. 

" But why do they call that bluff Anthony's Nose, 
uncle?" inquired Jennie. "I don't see anything 
like a nose in its form." 

" Let me tell you what Diedrich Knickerbocker 



i28 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Anthony's Nose. 




THE BROOKES KILL. 



says about it, Miss Jennie," replied Arthur, in obe- 
dience to a nod from the colonel. Then opening a 
copy of Diedrich's history, he read as follows:— 



TJirougJi the Highlands. 129 



How a reflected sunbeam killed a sturgeon. 



" It must be known that the nose of Anthony,- 
the trumpeter,* was of a very lusty size, strutting 
boldly from his countenance like a mountain of 
Golconda, being sumptuously bedecked with rubies 
and other precious stones — the true regalia of a 
king of good fellows, which jolly Bacchus grants to 
all who bouse it heartily at the flagon. Now thus 
it happened that, bright and early in the morning, 
the good Anthony, having washed his burly visage, 
was leaning over the quarter railing of the galley, 
contemplating it in the glassy wave below. Just at 
this moment the illustrious sun, breaking in all his 
splendor from behind one of the high bluffs of the 
Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams 
full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass, 
the reflection of which shot straightway down, hiss- 
ing hot, into the water, and killed a mighty stur- 
geon that was sporting beside the vessel. This 
huge monster being, with infinite labor, hoisted on 
board, furnished a luxurious repast for all the crew, 
being accounted of excellent flavor, excepting about 
the wound, where it smacked a little of brimstone ; 
and this, on my veracity, was the first time that ever 
sturgeon was eaten in these parts by Christian peo- 
ple. When this astonishing miracle came to be made 
known to Peter Stuyvesant, and that he tasted of 

* Anthony Van Corlaer was trumpeter to Governor Stuyvesant. 
6* 



130 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A ludicrous legend. 



the unknown fish, he, as may well be supposed, mar- 
veled exceedingly, and as a monument thereof, he 
gave the name of Anthony's Nose to a stout prom- 




wft 



ANTHONYS NOSE AND THE SUGAR LOAF. 



ontory in the neighborhood, and it has continued to 
be called Anthony's Nose ever since that time." 

A hearty laugh greeted the reader as he finished 
this veracious story, after which the colonel re- 
marked : — 

" Let us pass from a ludicrous legend to a painful 



Through the Highlands. 



131 



A painful fact. 



Bloody Pond. 



fact. On the opposite side of the river our patriot 
fathers built two posts early in the war, named 
Montgomery and Clinton. To capture these forts 




*m?cx* 



LAKE SINNIPINK. 



the British marched, three thousand strong, from 
Stony Point across the mountains to the rear of the 
forts. There is a lovely little lake behind the site 
of those forts, named Lake Sinnipink, or Bloody 
Pond, on the banks of which a skirmish took place 
that cost the patriots many lives. The forts were 



132 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The patriot's reward. A charming- creek. 

both captured with the loss of two hundred and 
fifty of their six hundred brave defenders." 

" Poor fellows!" exclaimed Mrs. Stuart. "How 
little we think of the fearful price with which our 
liberties were purchased." 

"Too true, too true," replied the colonel, shrug- 
ging his shoulders. " Society is a thoughtless mon- 
ster, always ready to accept the sacrifice of its best 
sons, but rarely grateful enough to reward them for 
their heroism. But then, you know, the genuine pa- 
triot finds his reward in the consciousness that he has 
done his duty. But a truce to moralizing. There 
is a charming creek lying between and back of the 
sites of those old forts. It has high, steep banks, one 
of which is covered with trees. Its mouth is broad 
and deep, while, only half a mile back, it is a wild 
mountain torrent, rushing through romantic ravines 
into the calm river below. Were we making an ar- 
tist's tour we should certainly go ashore to examine 
and enjoy it. It is named Montgomery Creek." 

While the steamer was plowing her way past the 
Sugar Loaf Mountain, Miss Jennie, who had, with 
her usual restlessness, been wandering round the 
promenade deck, returned to her party with great 
animation in speech and manner, to say, — 

" O, mamma, what do you think those German 
gentlemen said just now ? " 



Through the Highlands. 



Jennie and the Germans. 



133 




FALLS IX MONTGOMERY CREEK. 



Mrs. Stuart and the others looked in the direction 
indicated by a movement of the young lady's head, 
and saw a group of three bearded and mustached 
gentlemen, unmistakably German in aspect and 



134 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A German compliment to the Hudson. 



manners. After glancing at them a moment or two, 
the colonel asked, — 

"Well, Miss Jennie, what did they say?" 
" One of them said, ' De scenery of de Hudson ish 
finer dan de scenery of de Rhine ; ' and the others 
replied, ' Dat ish so, dat ish so.' " 

They all laughed at Jennie's poor attempt to 
imitate the broken English of their German fellow- 
travelers, and the colonel remarked : — 

"That confession was the highest compliment a 
German could pay to our noble river. Germans 

almost worship the 
Rhine. But we must 
not overlook the his- 
toric points around 
us. Yonder, at the 



base of the Sugar 
Loaf, we see Beverly 
Dock, from which 
the traitor, Arnold, entered his barge when he fled 
from Beverly House, the scene of his treacherous 
meditations, after learning that Andre had been 
captured. Telling his six oarsmen that his errand 
was of great importance, he bade them row down 
stream as swiftly as possible, promising them an 
ample supply of rum as a reward for their exertion. 
Little dreaming that they were obeying the bidding 




BEVERLY DOCK. 



Through the Highlands. 135 

The basest American. Buttermilk Falls. 

of the meanest of traitors, they put forth their ut- 
most strength, and rowed him to the "Vulture" 
with the speed of a bird. On her deck he was safe 
from the halter he had merited, but, with charac- 
teristic meanness, he gave up his boatmen as pris- 
oners ! The British commander at New York had 
a higher sense of honor, and set them at liberty on 
being made acquainted with the facts." 

" I think that Benedict Arnold was the basest 
man America ever produced," observed Clarence 
with a frown so dark that his friends smiled in ap- 
proval of the earnestness of the detestation it was 
meant to express. 

Pointing to the west side of the river, the colonel 
said, " Yonder is Buttermilk Falls, so named because 
the water, in tumbling over several lofty and inclined 
ledges, is so broken and foamy as to become daz- 
zlingly white. The scenery of the stream, and of the 
country around it, though rough, is very beautiful. 
There is a village above the Falls, and some pretty 
villas, as you see, on the high bank of the river." 

The boat was now in sight of West Point, fifty- 
two miles from New York, and the attention of our 
whole party was engaged in listening to the colonel 
as he pointed out the numerous beauties and at- 
tractions of the striking scenery around them. The 
spurs of the mountains abutting on the river in bold 



i3 6 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A picture of unrivaled beauty. 



precipices, rising in some places one thousand feet 
in height — the luxuriant foliage with which they are 
clothed — the countless sloops with their large white 
sails, tacking and scudding like flocks of wild sea- 




UPPER CASCADES, BUTTEKMILK FALLS. 



birds on the serpentine channel and before the baf- 
fling winds — formed a picture of unrivaled beauty. 

" I never enjoyed this scenery before as I do to- 
day," observed Mrs. Stuart as the boat slackened 



Through the Highlands. 137 



A pretty good showman. Afternoon rambles. 



her speed when approaching Cozzens' Dock, a mile 
below West Point. 

" That's because you never had uncle with you 
to point out its beautiful objects, mamma," replied 
Edith. 

"You think I am a pretty good showman, then; 
do you, Edith?" said the colonel, smiling and play- 
fully pulling one of his niece's ringlets. 

" All ashore ! " shouted the captain. 

A few minutes sufficed them to cross the gang- 
plank and to see their baggage properly cared for. 
Declining to ride, because they wished to enjoy the 
picturesque features of the winding road leading to 
the hotel, they proceeded leisurely on foot. Their 
estimate of its attractions was frequently expressed 
in such exclamations as the following : — 

" How romantic ! " " What a lovely glimpse of 
the river we get from this point ! " " How delight- 
ful this nook is!" "I'm glad we walked up this 
hill. We should have missed a good deal if we had 
come up in the 'bus," etc., etc. 

After reaching the hotel they spent some time 
resting and taking needed refreshments. The re- 
mainder of the day was occupied by the young 
folks in desultory rambling round the charming 
walks which abound in the vicinity of the hotel ; 
the colonel and his sister preferring seats on the 



138 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Fantastic aspects of river and mountains. 




THE ROAD FROM COZZENS' DOCK. 



piazza, from which the river and the mountains 
could be viewed in the various fantastic aspects 
given them by the changes of light and shade, 



TJirougJi the Highlands. 139 

An unfounded suspicion. 

caused by the many-tinted clouds and the descend- 
ing sun. When, toward dusk, the young people 
came in, the colonel observed that Arthur and Jennie 
lagged behind Edith and Clarence, and appeared to 
be engaged in conversation which deeply interested 
them. When they saw that he was watching them 
they both blushed deeply. Jennie suddenly dropped 
her companion's arm and ran to her room. Arthur 
approached the colonel, who touched his arm and 
whispered : — 

" Remember, my boy, I trust your honor." 
Arthur was vexed. He saw that his uncle sus- 
pected him of having renewed his courtship of Miss 
Jennie. He knew the suspicion, though not unjust 
under the circumstances, was nevertheless unmer- 
ited in fact. He and Jennie had been careful to 
abstain from a repetition of the folly they had com- 
mitted at Sunnyside, though, perhaps, they had 
been tempting each other to it by separating them- 
selves too widely from their companions. A little 
reflection led the lad to resolve that he would deal 
honorably with his adopted father and treat Jennie 
as a sister, at least for the present. 



i43 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Days at West Point. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



AT WEST POINT. 



N UR party spent several days at West Point. 
^^ They found ample occupation and experi- 
enced rare delight in visiting its varied points of 
interest, and talking over its deeply interesting his- 
torical associations. Our limited space forbids us 
to give more than brief notes of their rambles. 
One of these was to the Parade Ground of the 




THE PARADE. 



At West Point. 141 



West Point Cadets. Edith's protest. 

Military Academy and its numerous buildings. The 
colonel's military standing procured them excep- 
tional opportunities to see every thing worth look- 
ing at. They explored the grounds, witnessed the 
drill of the cadets, visited the several barracks, the 
academy, the library, the laboratory, the officers' 
quarters, and other edifices. They gleaned not a 
little information about the cadets, who are selected 
from the Congressional Districts throughout the 
whole country, and taught every thing necessary 
to a thorough understanding of the principles of 
military science free of cost to themselves, but 
under an agreement that they will serve at least 
four years in our army unless earlier discharged by 
the authorities. 

" I don't care !" exclaimed Edith as they sat rest- 
ing on the piazza of one of the professor's houses. 
" This may all be very nice: I dare say it is: but I 
don't like it. It suggests bloodshed, and misery, 
and death'." 

The colonel smiled complacently on hearing this 
somewhat impassioned speech from the lips of the 
earnest, thoughtful girl, and replied, — 

" That remark is very creditable to your heart, 
my dear; but on so great a question as preparing 
the nation for defending itself against possible war, 
we must let the head decide. For this country to 



142 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Arthur's invitation. The big chain. 

neglect all military and naval provision would be to 
invite attack from foreign nations — " 

" Come and see the big chain ! It is in the Artil- 
lery Laboratory," cried Arthur, running up to the 
piazza and interrupting the colonel. 

This big chain, which, during the Revolutionary 
war, was stretched across the river at West Point, 
had already been the subject of conversation. Ar- 
thur's announcement, therefore, led the young ladies 
to jump up somewhat abruptly, and prepare to fol- 
low him to the spot indicated. The colonel and 
Mrs. Stuart preferring to remain where they were, 
the young people proceeded to the laboratory by 
themselves. 

They found the chain, or portions of it, stretched 
round a large brass mortar, captured by the daring 
Wayne at Stony Point, and two small ones taken 
from the unfortunate Burgoyne at Saratoga. 

" What monster links ! " cried Arthur, striking 
the chain with his cane. " They must be at least 
two feet long." 

" They are made of iron two and a half inches 
square," added Clarence, applying a little pocket 
rule to one of the links. 

" And each link weighs about one hundred and 
forty pounds," said their attendant. 

" Did it do any good?" asked Edith. 



At West Point. 



H3 



The home where brave men sleep. 



" It was stretched across the river from West 
Point to Constitution Island early in the war, to 
prevent the British fleet ascending the river. But 




THE GREAT CHAIN. 



it was never tested. The English found work for 
their ships elsewhere." 

Just as Clarence concluded this explanation, the 
colonel made his appearance and proposed a final 
ramble for the day to the cemetery. The young 
people readily consented, and, after calling at the 
professor's for Mrs. Stuart, proceeded to the quiet, 
shaded retreat where many brave men sleep. As 
they paused among the graves, the colonel quoted, 
sadly enough, the following lines : — 



144 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



In the cemetery. 



" Here sleep brave men who in the deadly quarrel 

Fought for their country, and their life-blood poured ; 
Above whose dust she carves the deathless laurel, 
Wreathing the victor's sword: 
" And here the young cadet, in manly beauty, 

Borne from the tents which skirt those rocky banks, 
Call'd from life's daily drill and perilous duty 
To these unbroken ranks." 




COLD SPKING, FKOM THE CEMETEKY, 



The Cadets' Monument, with its castle form and 
emblems of war, stood directly before them. They 
read the names of the deceased officers and cadets 
inscribed upon it, and then, ascending the hill near 
it, obtained a beautiful view of the river and of the 
picturesque village of Cold Spring on the opposite 
shore. 



At West Point. 145 



The ruins of Fort Putnam. 



" How beautifully that village lies nestled at the 
foot of those rugged hills ! " exclaimed Mrs. Stuart. 
" It has a most charming situation." 

" Very. We will cross the river and see it before 
we leave West Point," replied the colonel. " But 
to-day let us enjoy this distant view, and also yon- 
der one, toward the south, of Camp Town, West 
Point, and the noble heights beyond." 

On another day our party visited the ruins of 
Fort Putnam, the view from which they found to 
be exceedingly grand. While they were seated on 
this lofty height the colonel pointed out the strength 
of this post, which was regarded as the Gibraltar of 
America, and told them that had Arnold succeeded 
in the traitorous scheme of putting it into the 
hands of the British our patriot fathers would prob- 
ably have failed in their struggle for independence. 
Among other incidents he related one of very deep 
interest, concerning Washington when he had his 
head-quarters in the neighborhood of West Point. 
He took it, he said, from a volume entitled " Ro- 
mance of the Revolution : " — 

"The sun had just passed its meridian, when 
an American officer was seen slowly wending his 
way along one of the less frequented roads up the 
mountain, in the vicinity of West Point, where the 
American army was then stationed. The officer 



146 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A solitary rider on the mountain. 



was unaccompanied, and as the horse with slow and 
measured tread moved along the road, with the 
slackened rein hanging loose upon his neck, his 
rider seemed buried in a deep reverie. The scene 




FOKT PUTNAM, FROM THE WEST. 



around was one of peculiar beauty ; the far mount- 
ains heaped up, one above another, against the 
horizon, and at his feet the Hudson sweeping on 
with a sweet and placid look. But the thoughts of 



At West Point. 147 



Washington visiting a suspected man. 



the traveler were turned inward, and his eyes heed- 
ed not the pageant before them, but seemed rather 
to be reading the dark and obscure future, or try- 
ing to penetrate the mysteries which surrounded 
the present. His thoughts, however, were apparent- 
ly undisturbed — only solemn and deep. It would 
have been impossible for any one to have looked 
upon his calm, thoughtful brow, the majestic, but 
benevolent expression of his countenance, the firm 
contour, though sweet compression of his lips, the 
mild, penetrating glance of his eye, and the noble 
proportions of his frame, without detecting the 
presence of the great WASHINGTON. Presently he 
drew up before a mansion on the road, dismounted, 
and approached the house. Almost immediately 
a door was thrown open, and an aged gentleman 
in a civilian's dress rushed forth and greeted the 
comer with many, seemingly, earnest protestations 
of welcome. 

" The family in which Washington, on this occa- 
sion, was received, was one he had frequently been 
in the habit of visiting. During the stay of the 
army at West Point he often dined with its mem- 
bers, and in its head he had at first reposed confi- 
dence and friendship. But many suspicions of his 
honesty were whispered about, and in some quar- 
ters he was openly accused of treachery to the 



143 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A calm fftiest. A nervous host. 



American cause. To these suspicions Washington 
would not heed, but having been invited to dine 
with him on a certain day and at a certain hour, 
and this invitation being pressed with so much over- 
earnestness, and accompanied with an insinuation 
that his appearance with a guard was an indication 
of his W*ant of confidence in his friend's fidelity, and 
urged to give a proof of his unchanged belief in his 
honesty by coming unattended to partake with him 
of a private dinner, Washington's suspicions at last 
became fully aroused, and he resolved, by accepting 
the invitation, to prove at once the truth or false- 
hood of the suspicions entertained against him. It 
was to fulfill this engagement that Washington, on 
the occasion we have described, proceeded to the 
residence of his suspected friend. 

" The time appointed for the dinner was two 
o'clock, but it was not later than one when Wash- 
ington dismounted at the door of his host. He 
had an especial object in this early arrival. The 
host proposed to occupy the interim before dinner 
by a walk on the piazza. Here conversation occu- 
pied the time, and it soon became apparent to the 
chief that his host's manner was exceedingly nerv- 
ous and excitable. Without revealing this knowl- 
edge, Washington continued the discourse, and, 
while he carefully avoided betraying his suspicions, 



At West Point. 149 



A traitor's confusion. Dragoons. 



he skillfully led the conversation to such subjects 
as would be most likely to cause his companion 
to betray his agitation. So poor an actor was he, 
and so often was his conscience probed by the ap- 
parently innocent remarks of the commander-in- 
chief, that his nervousness of manner became so 
marked as to give the greatest pain to Washington 
at this proof of the infidelity of one in whom he 
had once reposed unlimited confidence. 

" The American commander, in commenting up- 
on the different beauties of the landscape that sur- 
rounded them, pointed out the spot where lay the 
encampment of the enemy, at the same time re- 
marking upon the extraordinary lack of principle 
that could induce men of American birth to forego 
the interests of their country, and every considera- 
tion of holy patriotism, to enroll themselves among 
their country's invaders for no other temptation 
than a little glittering gold. Before the penetra- 
ting look which Washington fixed upon him while 
making these remarks the guilty traitor quailed, 
but at this juncture he was relieved by the sound 
of approaching horses, and as both guest and host 
turned to the direction whence the sound proceed- 
ed, a company of dragoons in British uniforms ap- 
peared upon the brow of the hill, galloping rapidly 
along the road toward the house. 



i;o Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A traitor trapped. 



" ' Bless me, sir ! ' exclaimed Washington ; ' what 
cavalry are these approaching the house ? ' 

" ' A party of British light-horse,' rejoined his 
trembling host, ' who mean no harm, but are mere- 
ly sent for my protection ! ' 

" ' British horse sent here while I am your guest ? ' 
said Washington with startling sternness, as he 
turned upon his host with an air of command that 
awed, and caused to quail, the little soul of the be- 
trayer before the mighty spirit that he had aroused. 
'What does this mean, sir?' continued Washing- 
ton, as a terrible look gathered upon his brow. 

" By this time the troops had arrived, and they 
were seen dismounting from their horses. This 
gave courage to the trembling traitor. 

" ' General,' said he, approaching his guest, ' Gen- 
eral, you are my prisoner.' 

" ' I believe not,' replied Washington, his man- 
ner having regained its former calmness, ' but, sir, 
I know that you are mine ! Officer, arrest this 
traitor ! ' 

" In bewildering consternation the treacherous 
hypocrite looked from Washington to the men ; 
the one an American officer, the others seemingly 
British soldiers. But the puzzle was soon solved. 
Washington had ordered a company of Americans 
to disguise themselves as British cavalry, and to 



At West Point. 151 



A generous act. The source of baseness. 

arrive at the mansion designated at a quarter before 
two, by which means he would be enabled to dis- 
cover the innocence or guilt of the suspected person. 
The issue proved his suspicions were well founded, 
and the mode he adopted for detecting the plot 
admirably displayed his great sagacity. The false 
friend was handed over to the keeping of the sol- 
diers, and conducted to the American camp as a 
prisoner. He afterward confessed that he had been 
offered a large sum to betray Washington into the 
hands of the English, and at the hour of two a 
party of British horse would have surrounded the 
house and captured the American chief. At first, 
Washington meditated making a severe example of 
the man ; but he yielded to the earnest solicitations 
of his family, and pardoned him." 

" That was a very narrow escape for Washing- 
ton ; " observed Mrs. Stuart, "but isn't it singular 
that so much treason could have found a home in 
the free air of these grand old mountains, which 
seem made to be the nurseries of free and honest 
souls?" 

" Baseness is not born in either mountains or val- 
leys," replied the colonel, " but in human hearts 
devoted to selfishness. Let us now turn our eyes 
from the deeds of traitors, and view the works of the 
Creator which rise so grandly every-where around 



152 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A grand view. At Gold Spring. 

us in this enchanted valley. At our feet is the 
promontory of West Point, dotted with the Acad- 
emy buildings. To the left, lying on the east side 
of the river, is Constitution Island, once called 
Martelaer's Rock, and now sometimes spoken of as 
Warner's Island, after those graceful writers, the 
Misses Warner, to whom it belongs. Beyond the 
island, to the eastward, Bull Hill, or Mount Taurus, 
as people of classical taste prefer to call it, and 
Breakneck Hill, rear their rugged heads. On the 
west side of the river is the old Crow Nest. In 
short, there is no grander view on the Hudson than 
this — but the sun is getting low and we must hasten 
to our hotel. To-morrow we will cross the river 
in a boat to Cold Spring." 

Our party now descended by a rude, broken path 
to the highway, and thence to the hotel making 
many sprightly comments on the events of the day, 
mingled with remarks on their anticipated trip to 
Cold Spring. 

The next day proving as fine as they could desire 
they sailed across the river to that village, which 
they found nestling at the foot of Mount Taurus, 
and reposing upon its granite bosom. Not far from 
the village they found a small stream in a lovely 
sequestered valley, called Indian Brook, with which 
they were so delighted that after rambling and 



At West Point. 



153 



Improvising a picnic. 



lounging among its rocks, gathering ferns, mosses, 
and lichens, they concluded to improvise a picnic, 
from the contents of their lunch-baskets, under the 




INDIAN BROOK. 



cool shade of its numerous trees. After lunch 
Clarence grew sentimental, and exclaimed with rap- 
ture in his tones, — 

" This is lovely ! It is fairy-land ! We may say 

of it as a poet has written of another stream : — 
7* 



i54 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Jennie's verbal skirmish with Clarence. 



" A fresh, damp sweetness fills the scene, 

From dripping leaf and moistened earth ; 
The odor of the winter-green 

Floats on the airs that now have birth ; 
Plashes and air-bells all about 
Proclaim the gambols of the trout, 
And calling bush and answering tree 
Echo with woodland melody." 

" That's very pretty, Clarence," said Jennie, " only, 
happily for us, the leaves don't drip, nor do the 
trout plash, as I can see, except in your poet's 
imagination." 

" The poet don't say that the leaves do drip, only 
that their past dripping has left a damp sweetness, 
which, I am sure you must admit, is here. And 
there ! didn't you hear the plash of that trout in 
yonder pool ? — but the colonel is calling us. Let 
us go ! 

" That call was timely for you, Jennie," whis- 
pered Edith to her sister ; " Clarence had the best 
of that case." 

" O yes, I dare say you think so," retorted Jennie 
with a pretty pout ; " you think Clarence is perfect." 

Edith bit her lip and blushed at this significant 
thrust from her sharp-tongued sister, but meekness 
prevailed over pride, and she made no reply. 

The colonel led the party to various points on 
the slopes of Mount Taurus, from whence they ob- 
tained delightful views. They also visited Under- 



At West Point. 



155 



A picturesque view. 



A glorious vision. 



cliff, the lovely summer home of the poet, George 
P. Morris, the West Point Foundery, where the cel- 
ebrated " Parrot Gun " is cast, and other minor points 
of interest. But at no other spot did they obtain 




VIEW FROM KOSSITER'S MANSION. 



so fair a view as from the grounds of the painter 
Rossiten 

" How picturesque! " exclaimed Mrs. Stuart ; "the 
river from this spot appears like a series of placid 
lakes." 

" And from where I stand," added the colonel, 
" there is a glorious vision between Mount Taurus 
and the Storm King yonder, through which one 



156 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The everlasting hills. Across the river. 

can see as far as Newburgh and its pleasing sur- 
roundings." 

" But better than all, to my taste," said Arthur, 
"is the grandeur of these everlasting hills, which 
shut in the river except at that one point." 

Thus each one pointed out what most impressed 
his or her mind, and so contributed to the general 
enjoyment, until their growing weariness, and the 
flight of the unresting hours, led them to seek their 
boat and to return across the river to their tempo- 
rary home. 



From West Point to New burgh. 157 



Farewell to West Point Newburgh Bay. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 
"3T[, HAD no idea that West Point contained so 



^ much to interest the tourist," was the re- 
mark of Mrs. Stuart when our party, having satis- 
fied their curiosity at this place, found themselves 
on board the steamer on their way to Newburgh. 

All the others agreed with her, and confessed to 
a feeling of sadness at leaving scenes which had 
yielded them so much innocent pleasure. But this 
emotion was, of course, transient as the morning 
mist which was now disappearing from the river, 
permitting the sun to gild with beauty the tall 
heads of the " Crow's Nest " and the " Storm King," 
and to shed a rich light on the beautiful vale of 
Tempe, which lies between these two mountains," 
and which the colonel regretted they had not time 
to visit. On the east, also, they beheld all the glory 
of Mount Taurus and Beacon Hill, rising between it 
and Fishkill. 

The Highland entrance to Newburgh Bay charmed 
them exceedingly. As their steamer reached a good 
point of observation the colonel said : — 



158 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



First view of the Katzbergs. 



Breakneck Mountain. 



" Here, in the far distance, we get our first view of 
the blue peaks of the Katzbergs, sixty miles away. 




HIGHLAND ENTRANCE TO NEW Ul'KliH HAY. 



Nearer, we get a glimpse of Newburgh Bay, with its 
finely situated city and the fine country surrounding 
it. Yonder little island is named Pollopel. The 
round hill is the Little Beacon Hill. Old Break- 
neck lies south of it. Here on our left is the Storm 
King, which it would pay us to ascend if we had the 
opportunity. I know of no view on the Hudson 
with greater attractions than the one before us." 

" It seems to me," replied Jennie, laughing as she 
spoke, " that every last view we get is the best." 

" Breakneck Mountain used to have a profile 



From West Point to Newburrh. 



159 



The Turk's face blown away. 



almost as remarkable as that of Franconia Notch, in 
New Hampshire," said the colonel. " It was called 




Tl/KK S FACE, BREAKNECK MOUNTAIN. 



the Turk's Face. It is said that an Irish laborer, 
while blasting rocks near by, put a charge under it, 



160 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The profile's revenge. The "Culprit Fay." 

saying, " Perhaps the old fellow would like to have 
his nose blowed." The powder blew off the nose of 
the profile, but the face had its revenge. Its de- 
stroyer was himself subsequently killed by a blast." 

" Served him — " 

" Jennie ! " exclaimed Mrs. Stuart, interrupting 
her daughter, " don't put a human life in the scale 
with a freak of nature. The poor Irishman was a 
child of ignorance, for which, as well as for his fate, 
he was more to be pitied than blamed." 

" Is not the Storm King the scene of J. Rodman 
Drake's beautiful poem of the ' Culprit Fay ? ' " asked 
Arthur, as if eager to change the conversation. 

" Yes," replied the colonel, " and I wish we had 
it with us. It would be delightful to read it under 
the shadow of the Storm King." 

" I remember its opening lines," said Clarence. 

" Recite them, please do, Clarence," said Edith. 

To this request the young man, ever ready to 
gratify his favorite cousin, responded by reciting as 
follows : — 

" 'Tis the middle of a summer's night. — 

The earth is dark, but the heavens are bright ; 

Naught is seen in the vault on high 

But the moon, and the stars, and the cloudless sky, 

And the flood which rolls its milky hue, — ■ 

A river of light on the welkin blue. 

The moon looks down on the old Cro' Nest ; 

She mellows the shades on his shaggy breast, 



From West Point to NcwburgJi. 



161 



A quotation by Clarence. 



Cornwall Landing. 



And seems his huge gray form to throw 

In a silver cone on the wave below. 

His sides are broken by spots of shade 

By the walnut boughs and the cedars made ; 

And through their clustering branches dark 

Glimmers and dies the fire-fly's spark, — 

Like starry twinkles that momently break 

Through the rifts of the gathering tempest rack." 





SCENE OFF THE STORM-KING VALLEY. 



The recitation of this fine piece of poetic descrip- 
tion was interrupted by the arrival of the boat at 
Cornwall Landing, where the colonel called their 
attention to the sudden contraction of the river. 
Pointing up stream, he exclaimed : — 



162 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A scientific supposition. 



A fearful spectacle. 



" See how the foot of the Storm King on the 
west crowds the water against Breakneck Hill on 
the east ! This is called the upper entrance to the 
Highlands. Our men of science suppose that in the 




UPPER ENTRANCE TO THE HIGHLANDS. 

long ago yon mountains formed a continuous chain, 
and that the waters of the river formed a vast lake, 
which stretched its placid waters as far as Lakes 
Champlain and George." 

" It must have been a fearful spectacle to behold 
when these rocky hills were burst asunder, and the 



From West Point to Newburgh. 163 

The home of ugly spirits. The Brimstones. 

freed waters rushed in uncontrolled freedom from 
their long imprisonment," observed Mrs. Stuart. 

" I remember," said Arthur, " that the Indians 
thought the rocky barrier was formerly a prison, in 
which the great Manetho shut up such ugly spirits 
as would not submit to his high authority. There, 
jammed in rifted pines, or bound in chains of ada- 
mant, or crushed beneath the mighty rocks, they 
groaned in agony and pain until the bursting of the 
waters set them free. But some of them are still 
here, and may be heard in the grand but fearful 
echoes which disturb these mountains when thunder 
rolls and tempests rage. Then they howl, and groan, 
and bellow, fearing lest the great Manetho is com- 
ing to imprison them again." 

" Quite as superstitious, but less poetical, were the 
legends of the ancient Dutch concerning these sub- 
lime hills," added the colonel. " They used to sail 
through this wonderful pass reciting legends of a 
race of spirits called Brimstones, who, having once 
cherished evil fires in their hearts, and breathed bad 
passions in their words, were doomed to infest the 
earth as fire-flies, tormented by being obliged to 
carry in their tails the fires which they formerly 
kept in their hearts." 

" Poor fire-flies ! " exclaimed Jennie ironically. " I 
never dreamed that the tiny lights they carry could 



164 



Summer Days on the Hudson, 



Jennie's odd fancies. 



Newburgh. 



cause them pain. I wonder if the Spanish ladies, 
who confine them in their ball dresses to flash like 
diamonds, do not sometimes hear them groan ! " 

The odd fancy of Miss Jennie provoked a general 
smile and many little pleasantries as the boat, pro- 
ceeding through the pass, glided over that stretch 
of the river, about a mile in width, called Newburgh 
Bay. Passing the villages of Canterbury and New 
Windsor, which lie on the western side of the river, 




FISHKILL LANDING AND NEWBURGH. 



they saw Fishkill Landing on the east, with its village 
lying in the distance, and its mountains towering 
beyond. On the west shore sat Newburgh, with all 
the imposing dignity of a river queen. 



From West Point to Newburgh. 



.65 



A trip to Shadyside. 



'We are now sixty-one miles from New York, 
said the colonel as the boat was approaching the 
Newburgh dock. "We must stop a day or two in 
this pretty and historical place." 

Here, then, they went ashore, and took rooms at 
an hotel. In the afternoon they drove along a de- 
lightful road southward through New Windsor to 




IIJLEVVIL'J FliOM T1IK BROOK. 



Idlew 

N. P. 
the d 



ild or Shadyside, the home of the poet, the late 

Willis. They had noticed the mansion from 

eck of the steamer. The chief object of their 



1 66 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A charming glen. 



visit this afternoon was the lonely glen which forms 
part of this charming estate. As they stood on the 



da ^a&K 







IN THE GLEN AT IDLEWILD. 



bank of the brook, which is one of its principal 
charms, they obtained a most picturesque view of 
Idlewild cottage, and Edith exclaimed : — 



From West Point to NewburgJi. 167 

The Moodna. Origin of the word. 

" This is lovely ! It is more beautiful than Sunny- 
side. 

"There is more of it," replied Clarence. 

" The glen up yonder is glorious!" cried Arthur, 
who had been exploring higher up the stream on 
his own account. 

Following his guidance, our party ascended the 
brook to a rustic bridge which spanned the rough 
bed of the little stream that tumbles in miniature 
cascades over rough rocks into delicious pools shaded 
by trees and shrubs, growing in all the wild luxuri- 
ance of nature. 

" What is this pretty stream called ? " asked Edith. 

" The Moodna, I suppose," replied the colonel. 

" Moodna ! " exclaimed Jennie, " what a lovely 
name ! 

" We owe it to Mr. Willis," replied the colonel. 
" He found the creek below revoltingly named 
Murderer's Creek, in commemoration, as tradition 
said, of a white family killed by the Indians. He 
persuaded the people that this was a corruption of 
the soft Indian word Moodna. They gladly ac- 
cepted his reasoning, and called the stream Mood- 
na's Creek." 

" There was both good sense and good taste in 
that," said Clarence. An opinion in which they all 
coincided. 



1 68 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Revolutionary incidents. 

The next day they visited Washington's Head- 
quarters, with its large hall, which has seven doors 
but only one window, and learned from the colonel 




WASHINGTON'S HEAD-QUAETEHS, NEWIJUKGH. 

many interesting incidents connected with the Revo- 
lution, which occurred during that great patriot's 
stay in the neighborhood. It was while he was 
here, in 1781, that mutiny broke out in the army. 



From West Point to Neivburgh. 169 

Washington's method of quelling a mutiny. 



The Pennsylvania mutineers had disbanded and gone 
home. The New Jersey brigade was in revolt. 
The whole army was in danger of melting away. 
Washington sent six hundred picked men. under 
General Howe, through cold and snow, to the re- 
volted camp. At midnight Howe silently planted 
his artillery so as to command the camp. At day- 
light the mutineers saw themselves in a field com- 
pletely swept by cannon. They received orders to 
parade without arms in five minutes. They ex- 
claimed : — 

" What, and no conditions ! " 

" No conditions ! " was Howe's stern response. 

"Then, if we are to die, we may as well die here 
as anywhere," defiantly retorted the mutineers. 

The order to advance was immediately given by 
Howe, when the mutineers, seeing his determina- 
tion, submitted, paraded without arms, and gave up 
their ringleaders. Two of them were condemned, 
and shot by twelve of their own companions. The 
blow was sudden, terrible, and effectual. There was 
no more mutiny in the army, for Washington, hav- 
ing subdued the mutineers, like a wise man, insisted, 
with success, that Congress should redress the griev- 
ances justly complained of by the troops. 

Our party also visited the head-quarters of Gen- 
eral Knox, a picturesque old house lying three 
8 



i/O Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Head-quarters of Knox. 



Cooper's Harvey Birch. 



miles west from Newburgh. They then crossed the 
river to Fishkill, where they recalled many of the 




IlEAD-QUARTEUS OF GENERAL KNOX. 



incidents in Cooper's " Spy," especially the trial of 
Enoch Crosby, who was supposed to be the original 
of the Harvey Birch of the novelist. Here, too, they 
were reminded of Lafayette's severe sickness, during 
which Washington watched over the young hero 
with the tenderness of a woman and the solicitude 
of a parent. Nor did they fail to visit the Verplanck 



From West Point to Newburgh. 171 



Head-quarters of Steuben. Off to the Katerskili. 



House, two miles north-east from Fishkill, the 
head-quarters of General Steuben during part of the 
Revolutionary war. 

Having visited these and other points of historic- 
al interest, and sought, like genuine travelers, every 
good point for enjoying the scenery, both at Fishkill 
and Newburgh, our party again took steamer and 
sailed toward the romantic regions of the Katers- 
kili. 



172 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The devil's dance chamber. Indian powwows. 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM NEWBURGH TO THE KATZBERGS. 




S the steamboat approached the head of New- 
burgh Bay, the colonel pointed toward a rock 
mostly covered with a fine growth of arbor vita, 
and separated from the west shore of the river by a 
marsh. 

" That," said he, " is the Duyvel's Dans Kamer, 
or Devil's Dance Chamber, of which the veracious 
Knickerbocker wrote that Governor Stuyvesant's 
' crew was most horribly frightened on going on shore 
above the Highlands by a gang of merry, roystering 
devils, frisking and curveting on a huge flat rock 
which projected into the river.' Perhaps this legend 
grew out of the fact that for a century after the 
white man's visit to the river the Indians performed 
their powzvows upon the rock." 

" What were powwows, uncle ? " asked Edith. 

" They were rites performed by the Indians before 
starting upon hunting and fishing expeditions, and 
also before going on the war-path. At such times 
they built a large fire on the rock, around which 
they danced, yelled, sung wild songs, and made 



From Newburgh to the Katzbergs. 173 

Effects of superstition. Poughkeepsie. 

hideous contortions. Then they tumbled, leaped, 
ran, and yelled, until the devil appeared. If he 
came in the form of a wild beast, his apparition 
indicated ill success ; if as a harmless animal, it was 
an augury of success." 

" Poor deluded creatures ! " exclaimed Mrs. Stuart. 
" Their superstitions were born of their fears, and 
tended but little to the improvement of their char- 
acters."' 

" Superstition never improves any one," replied 
the colonel. " Founded in falsehood, it debases 
them, as we may see in the case of the poor, ignorant 
Romanists, who worship the Virgin Mary with seem- 
ing devotion, but retain their characteristic vices 
of lying, quarreling, and drunkenness ; but here we 
are, off the mouth of Wappingi's Creek, on the east 
shore of the river. That stream is of great benefit 
to Dutchess County, through which it flows, and 
^from a high point of land near its mouth one of the 
most picturesque views of our noble river may be 
enjoyed. 

A half-hour's further sail brought them to Pough- 
keepsie, on the east shore, seventy-five miles from 
New York, of which the colonel said : — 

" This is the largest town between New York and 
Albany. The Mohegan Indians called it Apo-keep- 
sinck, a word which signified safe and pleasant har- 



174 Summer Days on the Hudson, 



A hard word to spell. 



Vassar College. 



bor. There are said to be forty ways of spelling 
Poughkeepsie." 




MOUTH OF WAPPINGl'S CREEK. 

" What a grand word to puzzle a spelling school ! " 
exclaimed Clarence. 

" Yes, very," replied the colonel, smiling at the 
young man. " There is a fine, if not a grand view 
of the river to be had here from yonder bluff or 
cliff. There is also a noble institution here, called 
Vassar College, where hundreds of young ladies re- 
ceive a first-class education. It is to be regretted, 
however, that this college stands upon ale barrels : 
that is, it received its endowment from one who 
made his fortune by brewing ale, .a liquor which 



From NewburgJi to tJic Katzbergs. 175 

Proposal to relate a legend of Poughkeepsie. 

carries a curse with it wherever it goes. Yet Pough- 
keepsie is a delightful city, notwithstanding its 
brewery." 

" I know a pretty legend about Poughkeepsie," 
said Arthur. 

Of course the party wished to hear it, and while 
they steamed on toward Hyde Park and Rondout 







HIGHLANDS FROM POUGHKEEPSIE. 



Creek, the young man related it somewhat as fol- 
lows : — 

" Once on a time a party of Delaware braves came 
here with some Pequod captives. Among the lat- 
ter was a young chief, to whom the conquerors 



176 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The Pequod captive. A lover's device. 



offered life and honors if he would renounce his own 
nation and join theirs. This offer he proudly re- 
jected, and was then bound to a tree to be put to 
death. A shriek from the adjacent thicket startled 
his executioners, who were further surprised to see 
a pretty captive Pequod girl leap to their feet and 
implore the victim's life. He was her affianced 
lover, she said. The Delawares listened and began 
to debate, when suddenly the fierce war-whoop of 
some Hurons caused them to snatch their weapons 
and fight for life. Instantly the Pequod maiden cut 
the thongs which bound her lover, but in the deadly 
fight which followed was herself seized by the in- 
vading Hurons and carried to their camp. 

li Very soon, however, her betrothed appeared 
among the Hurons, disguised as a wizard and medi- 
cine man. The captive maiden being sick, he was 
employed to cure her, or at least to prolong her life. 
His medicine must have been very powerful, for, 
when nightfall arrived, the maiden fled with him 
toward the river. The Hurons pursued them with 
swift feet. Finding a light canoe on the bank of 
the Hudson, the young brave placed his beloved in 
it, and, with strong arms, paddled to a nook at the 
mouth of the Winnakee, where he hid her from their 
pursuers, and where, as fortune ordered it, he found 
some friendly warriors willing to help him attack 



From Newburgh to the Katzbergs. 177 

A true maiden. Kondout. 



the pursuing Hurons when they came across the 
stream, as they speedily did. In the fight which 
followed, he and his friendly braves were victorious, 
and such Hurons as were not killed were glad to 
flee for their lives. Thus did this bold young Pequod 
and the brave and true maiden of his heart find this 
spot to be indeed a safe harbor. And, no doubt, 
when they became husband and wife they were as 
happy as Indians in general, which, I suppose," said 
Arthur laughing, " was not such a very high degree 
of happiness as to make us envious of its possessors." 

Edith declared that she greatly admired the con- 
duct of the Pequod maiden, and a very lively dis- 
cussion on the merits of the young brave followed, 
during which their boat passed the picturesque vil- 
lage of Hyde Park, six miles above Poughkeepsie, 
on the east bank of the river, and came abreast of 
Rondout Creek, on the west side, about four miles 
farther up. 

Rondout, or Redoubt, they were told by the 
colonel, lies about a mile back from the river. It is 
the depot for the coal which comes from Pennsyl- 
vania by the Delaware and Hudson Canal. Two 
miles back, on a broad sandy plain, is Kingston, 
formerly Esopus, which was burned by the British 
early in the war of the Revolution. While relating 

this shameful wrong, inflicted by General Vaughan, 

8* 



173 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The Dutchmen and the red-c«>ats. 



who acted more in the spirit of a savage Indian than 
a civilized soldier, the colonel said : — 

" The ridiculous and the serious often get strange- 
ly mixed in the world's affairs. They did so on the 




UONDOUT CREEK. 



occasion of this raid on Kingston. Some Dutch- 
men, on seeing the dreaded red-coats land, ran 
across the meadows as fast as their short legs could 
carry tlieir fat bodies. One of the fugitives acci- 
dentally trod on a rake left by the hay-makers on 
the meadow. The handle flew up and gave the af- 
frighted man a severe blow on the back of his head. 
He, supposing the blow came from a ' Britisher,' 
threw up his arms in horror and exclaimed : — 



From Newburgh to the Katzbergs. 179 

Skin-deep patriotism. Beautiful homes. 

" ' O, mein Got ! mein Got ! I kives up. Hoorah 
for King Shorge ! '" 

" That fellow's patriotism was scarcely skin-deep," 
said Clarence laughing. " It would have served him 
right if he had fallen into the hands of the British 
and been made to do military duty. He was both 
a coward and a dough-face." 

" You are very hard on the poor Dutchman, 
Clarence," observed Edith. 

The attention of the company was now diverted 
from this incident by the colonel, who pointed to 
the east bank of the river, and told them of Rhine- 
beck and its many lovely homes, especially of Wild- 
ercliff, the seat of Miss Garrettson, whose father, 
Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, is so distinguished in 
the annals of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
of Ellerslie, the magnificent, park-like estate of the 
late Hon. William Kelly. Farther up, on the same 
side of the river, he pointed out Barrytown, back 
of which is Rokeby, the seat of the millionaire, 
William B. Astor ; and then Montgomery Place, 
the family seat of the Livingstons. 

" The stately mansion at Montgomery Place," 
said the colonel, " was built by the widow of that 
most heroic man, General Richard Montgomery. 
He fought with Wolfe when that daring hero took 
Quebec from the French, and he died in our unfor- 



i8o 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Montgomery's last words to his wife. 



tunate attempt to carry that city by storm in the 
winter of 1775. He has been truly called one of the 
noblest and bravest men of his age. His last words 
to his young wife, when departing on his fatal er- 
rand, were, 'You shall never blush for your Mont- 
gomery.' And she never did. But she lived fifty 
years a childless widow. Her estate, which at her 
death passed into the hands of her brother, Edward 







T1IK KATZliERGS, FROM MONTGOMERY PLACE. 

Livingston, is one of the noblest on this noble 
stream. It contains every thing desirable to charm 
the eye and gladden the heart." 

Annandale and Tivoli were soon after passed. 



From Newburgh to the Katzbergs. 



181 



An ancient mansion. 



A narrow escape. 



Opposite Tivoli their attention was called to Esopus 
Creek, on the west bank, at the mouth of which is 




MOUTII OF ESOPUS CREEK, SAUGERTIES. 

the busy village of Saugerties, and back of which 
rise the romantic Katzbergs. 

The ancient mansion of the Livingstons, built 
before the Revolution, was also pointed out. " Its 
owner," said the colonel, " bearing the same name 
as Chancellor Livingston, narrowly escaped having 
it sacked by Vaughan's raiders, who, on their route 
to Kingston, had landed in De Koven's Bay to 
burn Clermont, the home of the chancellor, which 
was near by. But the owner of Tivoli not only 



1 82 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Fulton's patron. The mother of steam ships. 

convinced the officers that he was not the man they 
sought to injure, but, being good humored and 
hospitable, he feasted them, and they spared his 
property, though they destroyed Clermont." 

" Clermont," continued the colonel, " suggests the 
first steamboat, which was named after the estate 
of Chancellor Livingston, through whose means 
Robert Fulton was enabled to build the boat which 
his genius had devised. The chancellor had made 
the experiment in 1797, by building a steamboat at 
De Koven's Bay, or Upper Red Hook." 

This experiment failed, but the perseverance of 
the chancellor was not exhausted. He patronized 
Fulton, and was rewarded, in 1807, by seeing the 
" Clermont " steam up the Hudson from New York 
to Albany in thirty-six hours. 

" Thirty-six hours ! " exclaimed Jennie with an 
air of astonishment. " She must have been a ' slow 
coach,' as Arthur would say. Why, our boat does 
the trip in one third of the time." 

" Very true y my dear," replied the colonel, " but 
the ' Clermont's ' passage was wonderfully quick 
considering that she was the first vessel that was 
ever propelled by machinery and steam. She was 
the marvel of her times — the mother of all the 
steamships which now skim the ocean with the 
might of sea monsters and the speed of birds." 



From Newburgh to the Katzbcrgs. 



183 



Hendriek Hudson and the Catskill Indians. 



As the boat approached the landing of Catskill, 
the colonel reminded the young people that they 
were one hundred and eleven miles from New York, 
and near the spot in the river where old Hendrick 




VIEW AT DE KOVEN'S BAY. 



Hudson anchored the " Half-moon," and was de- 
tained a whole day by the crowds of natives who 
flocked to see his big canoe with wings. The scene 
he alluded to is thus described by Master Juet, 
who was one of Hendrick's fellow-adventurers: — 

" Our master and mate determined to trie some 
of the chiefe men of the countrey, whether they had 
any treacherie in them. So they tooke them downe 



1 84 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The drunken Indian. At Catskill Landing. 

into the cabbin, and gave them so much wine and 
aqua vita that they were all merrie, and one of them 
had his wife with him, which sate so modestly as 
any of our countrey women would doe in a strange 
place. In the end one of them, which had been 
aboord of our ship all the time that we had beene 
there, was drunke ; and that was strange to the 
others, for they could not tell how to take it. The 
canoes and folke went all on shoare, but some of 
them came againe and brought stropes of beades ; 
(wampum, made of clam shells ;) some had sixe, 
seven, eight, nine, ten, and gave him. So he slept 
all night quietly." 

The next day at noon the Indians came again, 
and finding the drunken savage sober, they were 
glad, and gave Hudson some tobacco, more beads, 
and some venison ; after which the " Half-moon " 
sailed on her voyage further up the river. 

Our party landed at Catskill, and preferring to as- 
cend the mountain in the morning, found comforta- 
ble quarters for the night at a village hotel. 



Among the Kat skills. 185 



Ascending the mountain. The Kip Van "Winkle legend. 



CHAPTER XL 

AMONG THE KATZKILLS. 

I HAT they might take ample time to enjoy the 
E), charming scenery along the banks of the Katz- 
kill before reaching the mountains, our party se- 
cured a private conveyance to take them from the 
village to the Mountain House. They were thus at 
liberty to stop at many a beautiful spot, and to note 
the grand and lofty hills they were approaching 
from many different points. After crossing the 
plain, which lies along the foot of the mountains 
several miles, they suddenly found themselves in a 
deep ravine, or glen, on a narrow winding road, shut 
in between rugged rocks made gloomy by a thick 
growth of pines and hemlocks, and by the clouds 
which floated over the mountain peaks. 

Of course they were all eager to reach the scene 
of the famous Rip Van Winkle legend. To beguile 
the time, and relieve the tedium of the ride over the 
steep, rough road, Arthur related the main points 
of that fascinating story somewhat as follows : — 

" Rip Van Winkle is described as a lazy, slip- 
shod farmer who would fish, hunt, and gossip in the 



1 86 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Eip Van Winkle's character. 



tavern porch, but who had an almost conscientious 
aversion to profitable work. His neglected home 




ENTRANCE TO THE KATZBEKGS. 



was in the village of Katzkill. His wife was a 
bitter scold, and poor Rip was any thing but a 
happy man. One day he rambled with his dog and 



Among the Katzkills. 



"S 



Kip's ramble. The mysterious Dutchmen. 



gun to the highest part of the Katzkill Mountains, 
where he was startled by a voice crying, 
" ' Rip Van Winkle ! Rip Van Winkle ! ' 
" This cry came from a short, square-built old fel- 
low, with thick bushy hair and a grizzled beard. 
His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion— <i cloth 
jerkin strapped round the waist, several pairs of 
breeches, the outer one of ample volume decorated 
with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches 
of ribbon at the knees. He bore what appeared to 
be a liquor keg on his shoulder, the sight of which 
inclined Rip to obey his sign to follow and assist in 
carrying the load. 

" After slowly toiling up a narrow ravine, the mys- 
terious stranger led the wondering Dutchman into a 
gloomy glen. There he saw a number of odd-bearded 
men with broad faces, small, piggish eyes, and pecul- 
iar noses, playing nine-pins. They all wore enor- 
mous breeches, and looked like a set of Dutchmen of 
the olden time. They stared at Rip in grave silence 
until his knees trembled through fear. Then his 
companion bade him pass the contents of the keg 
round among the company. In doing this Rip slyly 
tasted the liquor, liked it, drank again and again, 
until it overpowered his senses and he fell asleep. 

"On awakening, he found himself on the spot 
where he had first seen the old man of the glen. 



188 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Rip's awakening. Rip's perplexity, 

He rubbed his eyes — it was a bright Sunday morn- 
ing. He recalled the events which preceded his 
slumber, concluded he had slept all night, and tried 
to invent some excuse to satisfy the cross Mrs. Van 
Winkle. Looking for his gun, he found its stock 
worm-eaten, its lock falling off, its barrel rusty. His 
dog was gone. He whistled for him, but he did not 
obey the call. Rising from his grassy seat, he found 
his joints stiff, and his limbs slow of movement. 
He searched for the glen in which he had waited on 
the mysterious nine-pin players, but could not find 
it. Perplexed and hungry, he descended the mount- 
ain to the village. People stared at him as he ap- 
proached, but no one knew him. They were all 
strangers. The village children hooted after him, 
and pointed to his gray beard, which, to his surprise, 
had grown a foot long. The houses, too, were 
changed. Strange names were on the signs over 
the stores. Every thing was strange, and poor Rip 
said to himself: 'That flagon last night has addled 
my poor head sadly.' 

" Proceeding to his own house, he found it in ruins ; 
an old hungry dog growled at him, and Rip sighed, 
1 My very dog has forgotten me.' 

" He went to the village tavern, but that, too, 
was old and rickety. A strange flag, the stars and 
stripes, waved on a naked pole before it, and 



Among the Katzkills. 189 



Kip under suspicion. Kip recognized. 



beneath the ruby face of old King George, paint- 
ed on its sign, was written, ' General Washington.' 
The crowd on the stoop was made up of very differ- 
ent persons from those who formerly sat there, and 
their talk about Congress, Federals, and Democrats, 
was like gibberish in his ears. His replies to their 
questions led them to view him with suspicion, and 
to think of putting him under arrest. Happily, 
however, a comely young woman, who called her 
little son by the name of Rip, led the puzzled old 
man to question her. She told him that she was 
the daughter of a man named Rip Van Winkle, 
who had strangely disappeared twenty years ago, 
and whose fate no one knew. His dog had come 
home, his wife had died, and the speaker, his daugh- 
ter, had married a man named Gardenier. 

" Upon this old Rip made himself known. An 
aged woman then came forward and recognized him. 
Next, old Peter Vanderdonk identified him. Fi- 
nally, the good people generally admitted that he 
was old Rip, listened to his strange story, and ac- 
cepted old Peter's explanation, to wit: that the 
Katzkill Mountains were haunted, and that once in ' 
twenty years old Hendrick Hudson, with his crew 
of the ' Half-moon,' kept a kind of vigil among 
them. Tradition said that he did this as the guard- 
ian of the great river which was called by his name. 



190 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

• A doubtful compliment. Spirits of the mountains. 

And to this day, the old Dutch people never hear 
thunder in the summer without remarking: 'There's 
old Hendrick Hudson and his crew at their game 
of nine-pins again." 

"Very well told, my boy," observed the colonel 
when Arthur concluded, " but the story loses half 
its charm in any other than the words of the incom- 
parable Irving." 

" Your compliment, brother, is like honey with a 
bee's sting in it," remarked Mrs. Stuart laughing. 
Then turning to Arthur, she added, " Never mind, 
Arthur. You gave us the main points of the le- 
gend. Now tell us, if you can recollect them, the 
traditions of the Indians respecting these mysterious 
mountains." 

Arthur, after playfully thanking the lady for ex- 
tracting the sting from the colonel's compliment, 
related the substance of the Indian legends, re- 
corded by that most veracious of historians, Diedrich 
Knickerbocker, somewhat as follows : — 

"The Indians believed these mountains to be the 
abode of spirits which regulated the weather. They 
were ruled by their mother, an aged squaw, whose 
home was in their highest peak. She had charge 
of tlje doors of day and night, which she opened 
and shut at the proper hours. She hung up the 
new moons in the skies, and cut up the old ones 



Among the Katzkills. 191 



A mischievous goblin. The lost hunter. 

into stars. She spun the summer clouds out of 
cobwebs and dew, and sent them off like flakes of 
cotton into the air to be melted by the sun into 
rain. If displeased, however, she would brew up 
clouds black as ink, sitting in the midst of them 
like a bottle-bellied spider in its web. With these 
clouds she deluged the valleys and spread desola- 
tion through the corn-fields. 

" In the olden times the Indians said a mis- 
chievous spirit lived in the wildest part of these 
mountains, near a great rock known as the Garden 
Rock. Sometimes he would put on the form of a 
bear, a deer, or a panther, and lead the red hunter 
on a long and weary chase through tangled forests 
and among rugged rocks. Finally, he would sud- 
denly disappear, shouting ' Ho ! ho ! ' when the poor 
tired hunter would be terrified at finding himself 
standing on the brink of a beetling precipice or 
raging torrent. 

" There is a lake near Garden Rock where the 
water-snakes bask in the sun on the leaves of the 
pond-lilies which float on its surface. No Indian 
dare venture near this awful spot. But one day a 
hunter, having lost his way, came to the Manitou's 
Rock, and seeing a number of gourds lying in the 
crotches of the trees, seized one and made off with 
it. In his haste he let it fall among the rocks. 



192 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Kip's pillow. Panoramic views. 

Instantly a mighty stream gushed forth, washed 
him away among the precipices, and dashed him to 
pieces. The stream kept on until it reached the 
Hudson. It floweth still, and is the identical stream 
known by the name of Katers-kill." 

" Rip Van Winkle's Cabin ! " shouted the driver 
as he drew up before a little cottage standing in a 
pleasant nook half-way between the plain and the 
Mountain House. 

The youthful members of the party sprang from 
the carriage, and looked round in the vain endeav- 
or to locate the spot on which the goblins played 
their game of nine-pins. Rip's sleeping place was 
identified by the hollow stone which was his pillow 
during that long sleep of twenty years — at least, 
so said the driver, who was very much disgusted 
when the young folks laughed most irreverently at 
his solemn assurance that the stone was really 
worn hollow by the continuous pressure of old 
Rip's head. 

After exploring this legendary nook they resumed 
their slow journey up the steep mountain road, fre- 
quently stopping to enjoy the rich panoramic views 
of the distant country afforded by gaps in the 
mountains. At one point they experienced a thrill 
of rare delight, followed by a sudden disappoint- 
ment. This was at a turn in the road which re- 



Among the Katzkills. 193 

A singular disappointment. 

vealed the stately looking Mountain House appar- 
ently just before them. 

" See, there is the Mountain House ! " exclaimed 
Jennie. " How grand it appears ! It is like an 
Italian palace perched on a rock." 

" I'm glad we're there," sighed Edith ; " I'm so 
weary." 

" Push on, driver ! " cried Clarence ; " I'm hungry 
enough to eat one of the wild cats which gave these 
mountains their name." 

" Get up ! " responded the driver with a leer which 
the colonel only understood, for he was the only 
one of the party who had ever traveled that road 
before. 

On toiled the wagon into a road more crooked 
and hilly than ever, the grand hotel disappeared, 
and Jennie spoke the feelings of her companions 
when she said : — 

" Well, this is too bad. I thought we were at 
the Mountain House just now, and here we are 
seemingly as far from it as ever. I almost believe 
that this is enchanted ground, and that the view we 
had of the hotel was the conjuration of some mis- 
chievous goblin of the woods." 

" Well, that is real anyhow," cried Clarence when, 
after riding some time in silence, they found them- 
selves on the grand rock platform, twenty-seven 



194 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A vast and beautiful view. 




---.sly XA \ ' v - ^fv?^ ~ °>Js> 



KATEKS-KILL FALLS. 



hundred feet above the level of the river, upon 
which the hotel is built. 

The landscape, as viewed from the piazza of the 
Mountain House, was vast, grand, and beautiful. 
A sea of woods rolled at their feet ; the Hud- 
son wound, like a long silver thread, through its 



Among the Katzkills. 195 



'.*■> 



Toil rewarded. The Clove. 



lovely valley; mountains, vales, forests, and cities 
filled what seemed to be measureless space, bound- 
ed on one side by the glitter of the Atlantic's 
waves, and on the other by the green hills of 
Vermont. This peerless view, the 'pure atmosphere, 
the refreshing mountain air, more than repaid them 
for the toil of the ascent. 

The next day our party visited the Katers-kill 
Falls, which they found about two miles from their 
hotel, but which, owing to the dry weather, were not 
in a condition to fill the ideal previously cherished 
by those of the party who had read the description 
of them given by Cooper's Leatherstocking, in his 
" Pioneers." In fact they were dry, except when the 
water was turned on by their proprietor, who, for 
the accommodation of summer visitors, has dammed 
up the overflow of the little lakes which are their 
source. To be seen as in the illustration, they must 
be visited in early spring or after the autumnal rains. 
But if the falls disappointed our visitors, other 
'features of those glorious mountains did not. A 
drive down the mountain to Palensville gave them 
great satisfaction. At a point called the "Clove" 
they saw the Katers-kill rushing into a seething gulf 
between rocks, which appear to have been cleft 
asunder in some violent paroxysm of nature. It is 
named the "Fawn's Leap" because, as tradition 



igt> Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The dojr and the fawn. 




THE FAWN 8 LEAP. 



says, a fawn, closely pursued by a hunter and his 
dog, once leaped across the chasm. The dog tried 
the same leap, but, falling into the gulf below, was 
drowned. 

A little below the Fawn's Leap they found a wild, 



Among the Katzkills. 



197 



A romantic road. 




SCENE NEAR PALEN8VILLE. 



romantic road at the foot of a precipice. Crossing 
the stream by the rustic bridge which spans it, they 
followed this road for half a mile, along a shelf cut 
in the mountain side two hundred feet above the 
dashing little river. On the opposite side a mount- 
ain wall towered still higher, until it rose a thou- 



198 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A fearful gorge. Leaving the mountains. 

sand feet above their heads, while the stream itself 
seemed to have plunged into the unknown recesses 
of the gorge below. At the mouth of this fearful 
gorge they found the picturesque village of Palens- 
ville, and near by the lovely plain which lies be- 
tween the river and the mountains. 

So delighted was the entire party with the weird 
and romantic scenery of the " Clove " that they re- 
turned to the Mountain House, from whence they 
made trips to Stony Clove, to Planterkill Clove, 
and even dared the toilsome ascent of the High 
Peak. As they had abundant time, vigorous health, 
exuberant spirits, and a constantly growing taste 
for the sublime and beautiful scenery of these fas- 
cinating mountains, their pleasure was increased by 
each succeeding day's explorations. When the 
morning fixed for their departure arrived, some of 
them became quite sentimental in the tone of their 
regrets at leaving a spot which had yielded them so 
much innocent delight. Edith actually sighed as, 
standing upon the piazza of the hotel, she said : — 

" Farewell, scene of loveliness ! I don't wonder 
Miss Martineau said of you, ' I had rather have 
missed the Hawk's Nest, the Prairies, the Mississippi, 
and even Niagara, than this! 

" Ha, ha, ha ! I declare there is a tear in our 
Edith's eye ! " exclaimed the laughing Jennie. 



Among the Katzkills. 199 



Sentiment and scorn. A ludicrous contrast. 

" I wonder if tears never fill Miss Jennie's eyes," 
replied Clarence, who was always quick to defend 
his favorite cousin. 

" I think I could make her cry the least bit in the 
world over the poor Indian's fate," said Arthur. 
Then, turning to the now scornful girl, he added, 
" I will try it. Just think, Miss Jennie, that when 
old Hendrick Hudson first saw these grand mount- 
ains thousands of red men lived, fished, and hunted 
in happy freedom among them. Now, alas ! — 

" ' Cold is the hearth within their bowers ! 

And should we thither roam, 
Its echoes and its empty tread 
Would sound like echoes from the dead ! 

And 'mid yon mountains blue, 
Whose streams a kindred nation quafl'd, 

When side by side in battle true 
A thousand warriors drew the shaft, — 

Ah ! there in desolation cold, 
The desert serpent dwells alone, 
The grass o'ergrows each moldering bone, 
And 'mid their vacant camp — ah ! there 
The silence dwells of dark despair.' " 

" Stage ready ! " shouted a clear, ringing voice, 
and Jennie, struck by the ludicrous contrast be- 
tween the stately sentiment of Arthur's quotation 
and this unpoetical announcement, fulfilled his 
promise to make her shed tears by fairly laughing 
until she cried. 



2oo Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A break-neck, drive. 



CHAPTER XII. 

FROM THE KATZKILLS TO ALBANY. 



i i 



HAT was a break-neck drive down the mount- 
T£^ ain," said Clarence, somewhat indignantly, 

after our party found itself on board the steamer 

which was to convey them to Albany. 

" Mountain drivers never spare coaches or horses 




VIEW FROM THE PROMENADE, HUDSON". 



in going down hill," replied the colonel, " yet it is 
very rarely that they meet with accidents. But let 



From the Katzkills to Albany. 201 

The city on a bluff. Ann Lee. 

us look out for the city of Hudson, which is only 
four miles above Katzkill, on the east bank of the 
river." 

All eyes were then turned toward Hudson, which 
soon appeared seated on a bluff called the prome- 
nade, about fifty feet above the river, and running 
back for a mile or more up a beautiful slope to 
Prospect Hill. The colonel told them that Hudson 
is at the head of ship navigation, and is a very 
thrifty city, which was settled by Quakers, chiefly 
from the barren island of Nantucket, nearly a hun- 
dred years ago. He regretted that the plan of their 
tour did not permit them to land and visit the fine 
surrounding country, especially Columbia and Leb- 
anon Springs." 

" Lebanon ! Isn't that a Shaker settlement, sir?" 
asked Ciarence. 

" Yes ; two miles from the springs some five hun- 
dred Shakers own ten thousand acres of highly 
cultivated land. They call their settlement New 
Lebanon." 

" What are Shakers, sir? " inquired Arthur. 

" Followers of one Ann Lee, an English woman, 
the wife of a blacksmith, and the mother of several 
children. But she by some means or other became 
a fanatic, imagined herself a sort of female Christ, 
and taught that marriage was a sinful state. As 



202 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The Shakers of Lebanon. 



almost all fanatics do, she soon found followers ; but 
being persecuted in England, she came to America 
with a few disciples, and founded a Church a few 
miles from Albany. There she died, but, strange 
as it may seem, her cause lived and grew. There 
are some eighteen communities of her followers, of 
which New Lebanon is the chief. With all their 
fanatical notions, they are a simple, honest, indus- 
trious people. Their worship consists chiefly of sing- 
ing and dancing, both of which are odd enough to 
excite smiles in the beholders, who are, however, 




mwwm 






VIEW NEAR THE OVERSLAUGH. 



generally restrained from indecorum by the gravity 
and apparent earnestness of the dancers." 



From the Katzkills to Albany. 203 



Less romantic aspects of the river. 



Comment on this story of the Shakers filled up 
their time as they steamed on past Stuyvesant Falls 
and Stockport on the east, and Coxsackie on the 
west, bank. As they neared Albany their boat 
grounded for a short time on the Overslaugh, a 
shifting sand-bar, caused by streams which deposit 
their sands in the bed of the river. 

Eight miles below Albany, on the east bank, they 
saw the pretty village of Castleton, so named from 
the fact that the Dutch built their first fort, in 1614, 
upon an island at the mouth of the romantic Nor- 
manskill, which has its rise in the valleys of the 
noble Helderbergs. 

From this point they found the river losing its 
" strikingly bold character." Instead of beetling 
cliffs frowning darkly on the rolling stream, wooded 
uplands sloping into lofty peaks, and naked pali- 
sades shutting out the view, they found the river 
dotted with numerous islands, the channel rapidly 
narrowing, and the emerald shores sloping gently 
back into the interior. It seemed tame after their 
recent wanderings among the towering heights of 
the Katzbergs. 

But their attention was soon diverted from the 
river to the imposing old city of Albany, reposing 
in quiet stateliness on the west bank of the river, 
one hundred and forty-five miles from New York. 



204 * Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A thriving city. 



Valuable institutions. 



" The oldest city in the union except Jamestown, 
in Virginia," said the colonel, as the place came 
fully under the eyes of the party. '* It was first 
called Beaverwyck, then Williamstadt, and, finally, 
Albany, in honor of the Duke of York and Albany, 
afterward James II. It is a very thriving city, con- 
nected with the ocean by the noble Hudson, and 
with our vast inland lakes and boundless western 
country by canals and railroads. It is rich in money, 
in churches, in literary institutions. It has a uni- 
versity of high character, a successful State normal 







DUDLEY OBSI KVATOKY. 



school, a medical college of superior grade, a valu- 
able State library, splendid collections in natural his- 



From the Katzkills to Albany. 205 

At the Delavan House. An ancient Arcadia 

tory, geology, history, and agriculture. It has also 
a very superior observatory, called the Dudley 
Observatory, which, among other places of interest, 
we must not fail to visit during our brief stay." 

The bustle that precedes landing from a great 
steamer precluded further conversation, which was 
not resumed until after they had refreshed them- 
selves at the sumptuous tables of the Delavan 
House, and had come together in the private parlor 
which the colonel had engaged for his party. 

" I remember," said Mrs. Stuart, after their plans 
for the morrow had been discussed, " reading 
a charming little work by a Mrs. Grant, entitled 
4 Memoirs of an American Lady,' which gives a 
very delightful account of the manners of the 
Albanians in the times preceding the Revolution. 
According to her showing it was a perfect Arcadia. 

"Please tell us about it, mamma?" said Edith. 

" Yes, do, mamma, please," added Jennie. 

Thus urged, Mrs. Stuart gave her recollections 
of Mrs. Grant's book, which were in substance as 
follows : — 

" The site of the city of Albany was originally 
granted to a gentleman named Van Rensselaer by the 
States of Holland. His title made him owner of a 
vast tract running from the church, in the center of 
the town, twelve miles in every direction — a princi- 



2o6 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Olden times in Albany. 

pality in fact. Portions of these lands he leased to 
settlers ' as long as water runs and grass grows,' on 
condition of receiving the ' tenth sheaf of every 
kind of grain the ground produced.' 

"Under these leases the settlers rapidly increased. 
Many of them were from families of mark in Hol- 
land. The town spread out at first along the river 
bank, and then up the hills behind it. Its inhabit- 
ants prospered abundantly. They were industrious 
from necessity. Their manners were simple with- 
out being rude, plain without vulgarity. Their re- 
ligious life was stiff and formal, yet it was produc- 
tive of social order and morality. In the absence 
of schools, mothers were the teachers of their chil- 
dren. In addition to this, and their household duties, 
they, with their daughters, cultivated the garden, 
with which every house was surrounded, and ' into 
which no foot of man entered after they were dug 
in spring.' With her great calash on her head, her 
little painted basket of seeds on her arm, and her 
rake over her shoulder, the mistress of a household 
would enter her garden and sow, plant, and rake 
incessantly. These fair gardeners were great and 
very successful florists. 

"The summer evenings were devoted to sociability 
by these unsophisticated people. Then nearly every 
vporch was filled. At one door young matrons, at 



From the Kat skills to Albany 



207 



Amusements of the young 1 Albanians. 



another the elders of the people, at a third the 
youths and maidens gayly chatting or singing, while 
the children played round the trees, or waited by 
the cows for the milk which was the chief ingredient 
of their frugal supper, a meal which they generally 
ate sitting on the steps in the open air. 

"For amusements the young men hunted and 




jLF.IGH HIDING ON THE HUDSON. 



fished, the girls visited each other. In spring and 
summer both sexes made frequent rural excursions, 
enjoying picnics in the grand old woods, to which 
the young men contributed fish and birds, and the 
young ladies doughnuts, pies, and other products 
of their culinary skill. In winter skating, sleigh- 



208 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A peculiar frolic. A ludicrous incident. 

ing, especially on the river, and coasting, afforded 
them abundance of healthy and delightful entertain- 
ment, as they do to the young folks of the present 
generation. 

" In that primitive society the people married 
young, as they could safely and wisely do, be- 
cause their wants were few, small outfits sufficed, 
and they were sure of comfortable support from the 
fruits of that industry to which they had all been 
trained. 

" A peculiar frolic, popular with young Albanians, 
but which can scarcely be considered moral, how- 
ever, was very common in those old days. They 
would sometimes spend a convivial evening at a 
tavern, on which occasions they made it a point ' to 
steal either a roasting pig or a fat turkey ' for their 
supper. No one in Albany ever feared the loss of 
any other species of property except these animals, 
which, in consequence of this mischievous practice, 
were guarded by their owner with great care. 

" Mrs. Grant records one ludicrous incident con- 
nected with this highly censurable practice. It 
seems that two parties, unknown to each other, had 
resolved one evening to steal the same roasting pig. 
One of them happening to be first in the field 
secured the pig and carried it with all possible speed 
to the ' King's Arms ' to be cooked for their sup- 



From the Katzkills to Albany. 209 



Trick and counter-trick. 



per. When the second party found the pig gone 
they shrewdly guessed its fate, and their leader, bid- 
ding them wait for him at a rival tavern, hurried to 
the ' King's Arms.' There this gay, unscrupulous 
youth penetrated the kitchen, saw the pig roasting 
before the fire, and found out, by questioning the 
sable cook, for whom she was preparing supper. 
He then sent the unsuspecting Dinah with a mes- 
sage to one of the pig-stealers. No sooner was she 
out of the room than this young roysterer cut the 
string by which the animal was suspended before 
the blazing fire, and laying the savory creature in the 
dripping, pan, ran with it to his expectant friends at 
the other tavern, and ordered its roasting to be com- 
pleted for the supper. 

" Meantime the party at the ' King's Arms,' learn- 
ing their disaster, readily guessed both the trick and 
its authors. They also speedily devised a counter- 
trick by which to recover possession of the lost pig. 
Quietly collecting some dry brush, they placed it in 
front of the rival tavern. Setting it on fire, they 
shouted * Fire ! fire!' most lustily. This cry, so 
alarming in a village built chiefly of wood, and un- 
provided with engines for extinguishing fires, quick- 
ly drew every person in the tavern to the door. 
Seizing this opportunity, the purveyor of the ' King's 
Arms ' party stole into the kitchen, and carrying the 



210 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The morality of circumstances. Strangers in scarlet coats. 

pig out by the back door, returned to his friends 
rejoicing over the recovery of their spoils." 

" A very amusing, if not a commendable, fact," 
observed the colonel as Mrs. Stuart concluded amid 
the laughter of the young folk. " It only proves, 
however, that some, at least, of the Albany boys 
owed their morality quite as much to their circum- 
stances as to their principles. Opportunity would 
have made those pig-stealers as fast as only too 
many of our young city people are in these degen- 
erate times." 

" You are very severe on the young gentlemen, 
uncle," remarked Edith. 

" No more so than facts warrant, my dear," replied 
Mrs. Stuart. " I recollect Mrs. Grant states that 
when portions of the British army made its appear- 
ance in Albany during the French wars, the young 
Albanians of both sexes speedily trampled on the 
counsels of their elders, and, to the great distress of 
their good Dominie Frelinghuysen, engaged in 
masked balls and private theatricals. That wise 
man preached, pleaded, and protested against those 
departures from Christian propriety in vain. They 
persisted in spite of him, and made his place so un- 
comfortable that he finally resigned his pastorate 
and sailed for Holland. On the passage he disap- 
peared, but whether he fell overboard by accident, 



From the Katzkills to Albany. 211 



Dominie Frelinghuysai. The Schuyler Mansion. 



or walked over in a moment of insanity, was never 
known. The good people of his Church believed 
that he was picked up while floating on the sea, and 
landed on some unknown remote island, where he 
lived a hermit's life. For a long time they expected 
his return, laden with the rich fruits of silent medi- 
tation to be distributed for their benefit. But they 
never saw him again, though they did see the wis- 
dom of his counsels when they beheld the spread 
of immorality and scandal among their children in 
consequence of their entering into the amusements, 
and following the example, of those gay strangers in 

scarlet coats." 

The next morning our lively little party sallied 
forth to see the many objects of interest to intelli- 
gent visitors in this fine old city. Among these 
was the Schuyler Mansion, especially attractive to 
the colonel because of the high character, moral 
and military, of the distinguished patriot soldier 
who built it, and who for many years dispensed a 
princely hospitality within its spacious walls. 

The colonel spoke with enthusiastic warmth of 
the generous treatment at this mansion of Burgoyne 
and his officers after their capture at Saratoga. So 
courteous and so attentive to their wants was this 
illustrious soldier that Burgoyne was deeply moved, 
and said, — 



212 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A generous host. 



A repentant guesi. 



" You show me great kindness though I have 
done you much injury." 




GENERAL SCHUYLER'S MANSION, ALBANY. 



" That was the fate of war," replied the generous 
Schuyler, " let us say no more about it." 

Mrs. Schuyler nobly seconded her husband's grace- 
ful courtesy, and one evening her distinguished and 
honored guest was so deeply moved as to say, with 
tears in his eyes, — 

" Indeed, this is too much for the man who has 
ravaged their lands and burned their dwellings." 

The young folks of the party were amused by an 
anecdote of Schuyler's second son, an arch, active 



From the Katzkills to Albany. 



213 



A boyish freak. 



An ancient house. 



little fellow of seven years, who, one morning, 
rushed into the saloon occupied by Burgoyne and 
his suite, and, after shutting himself inside the door, 
exclaimed, — 

" You are all my prisoners ! " 

" A boyish freak that," observed the colonel, 
" but under the circumstances it added not a little 
to the melancholy of the dejected prisoners of war." 




STREET VIEW IN ANCIENT ALBANY. 



When, in the course of their walk, they came to 
the intersection of North Pearl and State streets, 
the colonel produced a picture of that part of the 
city as it was three quarters of a century ago. 



2i4 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

An eccentric old bachelor. Agreeable days. 

Pointing to the gable-ended house at the nearer 
corner, he said, — 

" That house was built for a parsonage, of bricks, 
tiles, iron, and wood-work imported from Holland. 
It was finished in mahogany and elegantly orna- 
mented with carvings in high relief in 1657. Its 
last occupant was an eccentric old bachelor, whom 
the boys regarded as some fierce Bluebeard or ogre. 
When his tall, thin figure, with its bullet head 
sprinkled with thin gray hair, appeared on the side- 
walk, they fled, fancying he was growling, — 

" ' Eee, fo, Aim, 

I smell the blood of an Englishman.' 

"Though not so terrible as the boys imagined, 
he was by no means a good citizen." 

We have not space to describe more of what our 
party saw in Albany, but only to say that they 
spent several very agreeable days there, and then, 
after visiting Stone Ridge, the Falls of Tivoli, and 
Greenbush, they turned their steps toward the bust- 
ling city of Troy, six miles higher up the river, and 
one hundred and fifty-one miles from New York. 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 2 1 5 



The view from Mount Ida. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FROM TROY TO THE FALLS OF THE BATTENKILL. 



C*L 



UR party spent a day in Troy, partly for the 
. sake of enjoying the beautiful view from the 
summit of Mount Ida, which rises abruptly directly 





VIEW OF TROY FROM MOUNT IDA. 



behind the city, and partly to cross the river to see 
the United States Arsenal at West Troy. Of the 
former Clarence remarked, — 



216 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A Roman Catholic college. Priests and their masters. 

" This view is not equal in grandeur to the scen- 
ery of the Highlands and the Katzkills, but it is 
very, very beautiful." 

" And the Katzbergs, looming up in the distance, 
are at least suggestive of the wild grandeur which 
you miss immediately about you," added Mrs. 
Stuart. 

"What is this huge pile of buildings?" inquired 
Edith, pointing to a towered edifice which crowns 
the mount. 

" Unfortunately, a Roman Catholic college," re- 
plied the colonel, " a school for training priests to 
hold the consciences of ignorant people in subjec- 
tion to the rulers of a Church which is corrupt both 
in doctrine and morals — a Church which wields its 
spiritual power for political ends, and which is the 
most dangerous enemy with which our free institu- 
tions have to contend." 

" You are pretty hard on the Catholics, sir," said 
Clarence. 

" Not on the Catholics, my boy, they are only 
deceived ; but on their ruling priests. I say ruling 
priests, because the great body of the Catholic 
priests are practically slaves to the higher ecclesi- 
astics, whose commands they dare not disobey. 
Hundreds of them are, no doubt, kept from re- 
nouncing their positions by fear of that unsleeping 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 2 1 7 

The arsenal at West Troy. What Edith hated. 

vengeance which dogs and ruins an apostate priest 
in spite of our laws and sympathies." 

To these remarks, uttered with deep feeling, no 
one ventured a reply ; and, after rambling to see 
the view from different points, they retraced their 
steps to the city below. 

The arsenal at West Troy, across the river, with 
its delightful promenade along the river-bank, its 
numerous shops, military machines, store-houses, 
quarters, etc., gave them an agreeable afternoon 
employment, and afforded them not a little infor- 
mation respecting Uncle Sam's preparations for war 
in time of peace. As they were leaving, however, 
Edith excited a general laugh by the warmth with 
which she exclaimed, — 

"Well, I don't care! I'd rather visit one church 
than thirty arsenals." 

" Hoity, toity! Is that the way you estimate 
your uncle's profession, Miss Edith?" demanded 
the colonel in a tone of affected anger. 

" I can't help it, dear uncle," replied Edith with 
moistened eyes, " war is horrible. I hate it." 

The bustle caused by a crowd of people hastening 
from the ferry-boat prevented any further remark. 
When the boat put out their attention was taken 
up by the beauty of the river scene, with its steam- 
boats and sailing craft : the city sitting proudly on 
10 



218 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Views from Diamond Hill. 




RENSSELAER AND SARATOGA RAILROAD BFaDGE. 



its right bank, and the long railroad bridge stretch- 
ing across the stream, looking like a huge cable in 
the distance. 

From Troy our party ascended the river four 
miles, by a hired conveyance, to Lansingburgh. 
The drive along the river bank they found to be 
most delightful. After a hasty visit to the top of 
Diamond Hill, which rises abruptly behind the vil- 
lage, as if in emulation of the Mount Ida of its 
Trojan neighbors, they crossed the long bridge which 
connects the town with the very attractive village 
of Waterford, on the west bank. Their object in 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 2 1 9 



Mouth oi' the Mohawk. 



A splendid cataract. 



crossing the river at this point was to spend a day 
in rambling among the picturesque and grand scen- 
ery found about the mouth of the Mohawk. This 
fine river, after enriching the fertile country in the 
interior of New York through which it flows for 
over one hundred and thirty miles, tumbles over a 
precipice seventy-eight feet deep, in a stream nine 
hundred feet wide, at Cohoes, and then discharges 




WATERFORD AND LANSINGBURGH BRIDGE. 



its waters into the Hudson a mile below. As our 
tourists stood in the garden of the Cataract House 
at Cohoes Miss Jennie exclaimed, — 
" What a splendid cataract ! " 



220 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A grand drive. Old battle grounds. 

" It's a miniature Niagara," added Edith. 

" It is certainly very beautiful," remarked the 
colonel. " The Indians must have had a canoe 
swept over it, for they named it Ca-hoos, or a canoe 
falling, from which word, as I suppose, we get our 
less euphonious Cohoes." 

Anxious to see as much of the Hudson as pos- 
sible, our travelers drove the next day from Water- 
ford to Stillwater. They found the stream too 
swift for navigation, but the country was rich and 
picturesque in its highly cultivated soil, its wood- 
ed hills, its flocks and herds, and thrifty-looking 
homesteads. 

" We have had a grand drive," said the colonel, 
after they had seated themselves in the hotel at 
Stillwater. " We are now in a region esteemed 
sacred by every true American, because of the great 
military events which transpired hereabouts in our 
Revolutionary war. We will to-morrow drive over 
the ground on which our patriot fathers fought and 
won the battles which ended with the surrender 
of the British General Burgoyne and his entire 
army. After Bunker Hill it was their first grand 
success." 

We have not space to follow our tourists on their 
ride the next day over this famous battle ground, 
nor to repeat in detail the colonel's enthusiastic but 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 221 

Three armies besetting one. 

truthful story of the campaign which promised so 
much to the invaders at its opening, but ended so 
disastrously to their arms. We can only give its 
substance, and say that in 1777 General Burgoyne, 
with seven thousand troops and a fine force of 
artillery, marched from Quebec to Lake Champlain, 
while Colonel St. Leger advanced with seven hun- 
dred troops toward the Mohawk Valley with the 
intention of occupying Albany. Meanwhile Gen- 
eral Clinton was to ascend the Hudson from New 
York with another army and co-operate with Bur- 
goyne. The plan promised to place our patriot 
army between three hostile armies, and crush both 
it and the Revolution by a single blow. But God 
willed it otherwise. St. Leger was forsaken by his 
Indian allies, and beaten back from Fort Schuyler. 
Burgoyne's foraging parties were driven from Ver- 
mont, whither they had been sent to secure supplies 
for his army, by General Stark. Clinton did not 
make his appearance from below, and the British 
general was obliged to quit his intrenched camp at 
Wilbur's Basin, and attack the patriot army in its 
fortified position. He was resolutely met, and com- 
pelled to retire with serious loss. About two weeks 
after he made a second attempt on the American 
position, but with no better result. Discouraged 
and embarrassed, he next determined to retreat to 



222 



Summer Days on the Hudson, 



Patriot victories. 



Capture of an army. 



Fort Edward, but was anticipated by the patriots, 
who had by this time occupied that post in force. 
Finally, seeing no way to save his army, either by 




BURGOYNE S ENCAMPMENT AT WILBUR S BASIN. 

retreating or fighting, Burgoyne surrendered his 
whole command with all its equipments. 

" That was a glorious day for our cause!" ex- 
claimed Arthur with enthusiasm. 

"Yes, it was," replied the colonel. "The forty 
brass cannon, the camp equipage, and the nearly 
eight thousand prisoners we gained, were great 
prizes to draw in the lottery of the war ; but the 
prestige of the victory was vastly more. It encour- 
aged the patriots wonderfully. It also convinced 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 223 



An impressive incident. 



the world that they were in deadly earnest, and that 
their final triumph was at least a possibility." 

" I remember an incident of Burgoyne's last bat- 
tle," said Clarence, "which deeply impressed me 
when I read the history of the Revolution." 

" What was it ? " asked Mrs. Stuart. 




SCENE OF BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER. 

" It related to General Fraser, who was the hero 
of the British forces in the field on that memorable 
day. Dressed in the brilliant uniform of a field 
officer, and mounted upon a magnificent iron-gray 
charger, he rode over the field of battle like a 
paladin of ancient story, inspiring the courage of 
the troops, and directing their movements with mas- 



224 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A doomed hero. A fatal rifle ball. 

terly skill. Colonel Morgan, of an American rifle 
corps, seeing that the issue of the battle depended 
on the fate of this heroic soldier, called a file of his 
best marksmen and pointed toward the doomed 
general, saying : — 

"'That gallant officer is General Fraser. I ad- 
mire and honor him, but it is necessary he should die. 
Victory for the enemy depends upon him. Take 
your stations in that clump of bushes and do your 
duty.' 

" In a few seconds the rifle shots of Morgan's 
men began falling so thickly around the devoted 
Fraser that one of his aids said : — 

" ' General, you are a particular mark for the 
enemy, would it not be prudent for you to retire 
from this place ? ' 

" ' My duty forbids me to fly from danger,' replied 
the heroic man. 

" The next moment a rifle ball laid him low. He 
was carried from the field to Baron Reidesel's quar- 
ters and laid upon a bed. The surgeon examined 
his wound. ' Tell me,' said Fraser, ' if my wound 
is mortal. Do not flatter me.' 

" There was no hope. The fatal ball had passed 
through the stomach. The Baroness Reidesel min- 
istered to him with womanly kindness, and heard 
him exclaim frequently, with sighs : — 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 225 



A general's death. The good time coming. 



" ' O fatal ambition ! Poor General Burgoyne ! O 
my dear wife ! ' 

" The next morning his mortal career ended. He 
was buried in the evening, according to his own de- 
sire, in a redoubt built on the middle hill of Bur- 
goyne's encampment." 

"Shocking!" exclaimed Edith, " and yet he was 
only one of thousands who were mangled or killed 
on that fearful day." 

" I never hear or read of battles," remarked Mrs. 
Stuart, " without praying in my heart for the reign 
of the Prince of Peace — for the day when nations 
will learn war no more." 

" That day is coming, no doubt," replied the col- 
onel. " The details of modern battles, spread before 
the people as they now are by the newspapers, cause a 
public dread of war unknown in former times. The 
common sense of the world, and the higher feeling 
of humanity created by the loving Gospel of the 
Lord of life, revolt against it. Courage, Miss Edith ! 
The days of great wars are, no doubt, numbered." 

During the drive of thirteen miles from Stillwater 
to Schuylerville, through a rich plain, to visit the 
principal scenes of the before-named battles, the 
young people were quite amused with the old-fash- 
ioned rope ferries by means of which the river is 

crossed in this region. Stopping at Bemis's Heights 
10* 



226 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



An ingenious device. 



SchuylerVille. 



they examined one of them closely, and found it to 
consist of a big scow pushed by poles reaching to 
the bottom of the stream, and kept in its course by 



mm 



^!fe 




ROPE FERRY. 



ropes fore and aft, which were attached by friction 
rollers to a stout cable stretched across the river. 

" A very ingenious device, that ! " exclaimed Ar- 
thur, laughing, " but not quite equal to a New York 
steam ferry palace." 

After spending the night at Schuylerville, our tour- 
ists started early the next morning to view the beau- 
tiful scenery to be found in its vicinity, as well as to 
visit such points of historic interest as the Schuyler 



From Troy to the Falls of the Batten kill. 227 



A deed of blood. 



Schuylerville Mansion. 



Mansion, and the site of old Fort Saratoga, which 
in 1745 was the scene of the murder of thirty fami- 
lies by a horde of Frenchmen and Indians, led by a 
noted partisan named Marin, but spurred on to the 
dastardly deed of blood by Father Piquet, a crafty 
Romish priest. The Schuyler Mansion was once 
the country-seat of General Schuyler, who erected 
it on the site of one he had previously built, but 
which was burned by order of Burgoyne — a deed 
more worthy of an Indian chief than a British offi- 
cer, and which cost him bitter pangs of useless re- 




RAPIDS OF THE FISH CREEK, AT SCTI U VLEll V L..L... 

gret when, after his capture, he learned the nobility 
of Schuyler's nature. 



228 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Charming cascades. A fairy scene. 

One of the views which highly gratified our tour- 
ists was the cascades of Fish Creek, which is the 
outlet of the well-known Saratoga Lake. 

" It is perfectly beautiful ! " exclaimed Jennie, 
with her usual warmth of feeling. " I love to 
watch those rapids tumbling beneath the bridge as 
if they were in a hurry to mix with the noble 
Hudson." 

" This view is indeed picturesque, my dear," re- 
plied the colonel, " but it will appear tame to you 
after you have seen the Falls of Di-on-on-deh-o-wa, 
which we shall visit presently." 

" Di-on-on-deh-o-wa / " exclaimed Arthur in a sar- 
castic tone. " If the falls are as singular as their 
name, they must be very remarkable indeed." 

" They are remarkable, my boy," replied the 
colonel, " but the meaning of their Indian name is 
uncertain." 

Returning to their hotel, our party took a carriage 
and crossed by a bridge, eight hundred feet long, 
to the east side of the Hudson, for the purpose of 
enjoying the delightful scenery of the Battenkill 
valley. Before crossing the bridge, however, they 
drove to a point up the river from whence they 
could behold the delightful scene at the confluence 
of the Battenkill with the Hudson. 

" That is like fairy-land !" exclaimed Edith. " That 



From Troy to the Falls of the BattenkilL 229 



Union of two rivers. 



island is lovely. It divides the river, the— what did 
you call it, uncle?" 

" The BattenkilL" 

" O yes, the BattenkilL The island divides it into 




CONFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON AND BATTENKILL. 

two channels, and its waters flow into the Hudson 
without a ripple. It is beautiful — but I don't re- 
member hearing any thing about the Battenkill at 

school." 

" It must have been on your map of the State of 
New York," rejoined the colonel, " though it is not 
a large river, only fifty miles from its rise in Ver- 
mont to its mouth ; but if you have filled your 



230 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Falls of the Battenkill. 

imaginations with this delicious bit of scenery we 
will now drive over the Hudson and ascend the 
Battenkill a mile or two." 

Two miles from the mouth of this little river they 




Dl-ON-ON-DEII-O-WA, OK GREAT FALLS OF THE BATTENKILL. 

left their carriage in care of the driver, and descend- 
ed a steep, and somewhat dangerous, precipice on its 
south bank to the depth of sixty feet. There, after 
securing good standing places on a shelving rock, 



From Troy to the Falls of the Battenkill. 231 

The Devil's Caldron. 

they looked up and gazed with mute astonishment 
on the roaring stream as it tumbled, in wild confu- 
sion, down forty feet into a dark gulf, called by the 
unattractive name of the Devil's Caldron. 

" We have seen nothing equal to this since we 
were at the Clove in the Katzkills," observed Edith, 
slightly shivering as she added, " but I don't like 
the name of this gulf. I think that unpronounce- 
able Indian name you spoke of, uncle, every way 
preferable." 

" Yes, Di-on-on-deli-o-zva is more pleasing in sound 
than Devil's Caldron," replied the colonel, "and, as 
we don't know its meaning, it cannot be as dis- 
agreeably suggestive as the other, which represents 
our conception of every thing that is evil in char- 
acter, motive, and purpose — but let us clamber back 
into the light, and trace this fall back through the 
narrow chasm, which shuts it in for some distance, 
to where it flows with a more gentle and natural 
movement." 

As you may easily imagine, there was merriment 
enough to balance the fatigue as they clambered up 
the precipice, laughing and joking at each other's 
mishaps. Then, after rambling awhile up the val- 
ley, they returned to their carriage, and were driven 
back to Schuylerville. 



232 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The rapids at Fort Miller. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM THE BATTENKILL TO LAKE GEORGE. 

HE next morning our tourists again resumed 
their drive up the river to Fort Edward. On 
their way they stopped to take note of the rapids 
opposite Fort Miller, a fort in the times of the 
French and Indian wars, but now a thrifty village, 
fearless of Indian tomahawks, and dreading no 
greater outward evil than a reverse in the manufac- 
turing world. 

As our travelers stood gazing on the foaming 
waters of the Hudson, dashing with headlong speed 
down a fall of fifteen or twenty feet in " the course 
of eighty rods," and over a bed of rough, uneven 
rocks, "Miss Jennie remarked, — 

" I should like to see a boat shoot down those 
rapids ! *' 

" Not with a human being in it, I hope, Miss 
Jennie," replied Clarence. 

" Why not, sir?" retorted the spirited girl. 

" Because he would be sure to lose his life, miss," 
rejoined Clarence. 

"That's not so sure, sir," said Jennie, with an air 



From the Bat ten kill to Lake George. 233 



A deed of daring. 



of triumph. " Didn't ' Old Put,' as he used to be 
called, go down these rapids in a boat?" 

" He did, my dear," replied the colonel. " But 
he did it to escape a worse death than drowning. 
He was out scouting. Having separated from his 
party, the Indians surprised him alone in his boat, 
near the eastern shore. He saw that if he tried to 
row across the stream their rifles would end his life. 
Then, without hesitation, he boldly pushed his boat 
into the whirling rapids. Away she flew, leaping 
over the rocks, spinning round the eddies, dashing 
through the foam. But Putnam bore a charmed 
life, and while the Indians stood transfixed with 
wonder at a deed they dared not imitate, he reached 
the calm water below in safety. They did not even 
point a rifle at him, lest they should offend the Great 
Spirit by whom, as they believed, he was so wonder- 
fully protected. Nevertheless, I question whether 
Israel Putnam would have ventured the descent ex- 
cept for the purpose of escaping death by savage 

hands." 

" But what one man did another might do, uncle?" 

said the persistent Jennie. 

" He might," rejoined Jier uncle dryly, " but I 
should advise him not to try it, unless he was, like 
Putnam, within the range of an Indian's rifle." 

Seven miles more riding, along a charmingly pict- 



234 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Fort Edward. 



A flourishing seminary. 



uresque road, brought them to the village of Fort 
Edward, on the east side of the Hudson, where they 
proposed to stay until after dinner. 




VIEW AT FORT EDWARD. 



To obtain a good view of this busy village they 
walked to the end of the bridge which connects 
Roger's Island with the west shore of the Hudson. 
The view they pronounced " delightful." The most 
commanding edifice in the village was the colossal 
building of the flourishing Seminary of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. 

They visited the few remains of the fort, which 
was of great importance, the colonel told them, 



From the Bat ten kill to Lake George. 235 



A barracks on fire. A powder magazine saved. 



both in the old French and Indian wars and during 
the Revolution. A few logs and some traces of 
trenches were the only relics to be seen of the scene 
of strifes, in which many brave men once measured 
their strength in deadly conflict. 

While they stood among these relics the colonel 
related another instance of Israel Putnam's daring 
when the barracks of this fort took fire. Putnam, 
hearing the cry of fire, crossed on the ice from 
Roger's Island with his men, and took post on a 
ladder placed against a building next to the powder 
magazine. There he stood, pouring the buckets of 
water brought by his men from the river, until the 
roof of the building gave way. Even then he would 
not give up, but took his stand between the blazing 
ruins and the magazine, which a single spark or a 
burning cinder might explode in a moment. Amid 
showers of sparks the brave man stood, casting the 
water, as fast as brought to him, upon the magazine, 
until the flames were subdued, and that structure, 
with the remainder of the fort, saved. Then the 
unconquerable Putnam emerged from the smoke 
amid the hurras of his comrades, but with his body 
so badly burned that he had to spend a month in 
the hospital before he was fit for further duty. 

In the afternoon they stopped on their route to 
Glen's Falls to visit the grave of the unfortunate 



236 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Imposing falls. 



An emblem. 



Jenny M'Crea, and also to view the scenery round 
Baker's Falls. 

These falls they found very imposing. Here the 
river, four hundred feet wide, descends about eighty 







BAKER'S FALLS. 



feet in the course of a mile, and is broken by the 
masses of rocks which impede its course into foam- 
ing cascades and rushing torrents. They spent an 
hour or more watching with unabated interest the 
restless waters which poured down from above with 
unceasing velocity, "an emblem," Mrs. Stuart said, 
" of the flow of the eternal years." 

In a beautiful cemetery half way between Sandy 
Hill and Fort Edward, they stood before a grave at 



From the Baitenkill to Lake George. 237 

In a cemetery. Jenny M'Crea. 

the head of which they saw a plain marble stone, 
six feet high, containing the following inscription : — 

" Here rest the remains of Jane M'Crea, aged 17, 
made captive and murdered by a band of Indians, 
while on a visit to a relative in the neighborhood, 
A. D. 1777. To commemorate one of the most 
thrilling incidents in the annals of the American 
Revolution, to do justice to the fame of the gallant 
British officer to whom she was affianced, and as a 
simple tribute to the memory of the departed, this 
stone is erected by her niece, Sarah Hannah Payne, 
A.D. 1852." 

As our tourists drove through the beautiful vil- 
lage of Sandy Hill toward Glen's Falls, they talked 
over the sad fate of the beautiful Miss M'Crea, the 
substance of whose story I will now relate. 

Miss Jenny M'Crea was the daughter of a Scotch 
Presbyterian minister. She was a beautiful, intelli- 
gent, graceful girl, so attractive in person and dis- 
position as to be universally beloved wherever known. 
She was visiting a tory lady in Fort Edward at the 
time Burgoyne's army approached, where, it seems, 
she betrothed herself to a young officer in the En- 
glish army. Influenced, no doubt, by this affection, 
she refused to accompany her brother, who lived 
near by, when he fled before the invading army, but 
remained with her tory friends. 



2^8 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Jenny MT'rea's tragic death. A faithful lover. 



While Burgoyne was yet at Sandy Hill, a party 
of savages, seeking captives, for which the English 
general paid them liberal bounties, suddenly entered 
the abode of Jenny's friend, and carried off both 
ladies, intending to take them to the English camp. 
A negro ran to the fort and alarmed the garrison. 
A detachment of soldiers was sent after the savages 
and their fair prisoners. They overtook and fired 
on them. The Indians were untouched, but one of 
the musket balls mortally wounded the beautiful 
Miss M'Crea. The savages, seeing they had lost 
their prisoner, hastily cut off her scalp, and hastened 
with it to the camp. The tory friend, who had 
already arrived, recognized the bleeding scalp by 
the great length and beauty of the tresses attach- 
ed to it. Jenny's body was first buried on her 
brother's farm, was reinterred at Fort Edward, in 
1826, with imposing ceremonies, and finally placed 
in the cemetery where it will repose undisturbed, 
let us hope, until the morning of the resurrection. 

Jenny's lover was so profoundly grieved by the 
tragic end of his betrothed that he threw up his 
commission, removed to Canada, and lived a soli- 
dary single life. Though he lived to be an old man, 
he never recovered his spirits. 

The conversation upon the sad fate of this beauti- 
ful maiden filled up the time occupied by the drive 



From the Battenkill to Lake George. 239 



A waterfall quaintly described. 



from Sandy Hill to Glen's Falls. At the former 
place they noticed the "magnificent sweep" by 
which the Hudson changes its "course from an 
easterly to a southerly direction;" at the latter vil- 
lage their attention was engaged by its falls, so 
admirably described by Hawkeye % in Coopers 
" Last of the Mohicans." He quaintly says of what 
he, not unaptly, calls the perversity of the water:— 




GLKN'S FALLS. 



" It falls by no rule at all. Sometimes it leaps, 
sometimes it tumbles; there it skips, here it shoots; 
in one place 'tis white as snow, and in another 'tis 
o-reen as grass ; hereabouts it pitches into deep hoi- 



240 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

The falls — Chepontuc, Wing, or Glen ? 

lows, that rumble and quake the 'arth, and there- 
away it ripples and sings like a brook, fashioning 
whirlpools and gullies in the old stone as if 'twere 
no harder than trodden clay. The whole design of 
the river seems disconcerted. First it runs smooth- 
ly, as if meaning to go down the descent as things 
were ordered ; then it angles about and faces the 
shores ; nor are there places wanting where it looks 
backward, as if unwilling to leave the wilderness to 
mingle with the salt ! " 

Our tourists did not find these curious falls quite 
up to this quaint yet poetic description, on account 
of the comparatively small volume of water then 
flowing over them. They were amused on being 
told by a fellow-visitor how the Falls acquired their 
present name. The Indians called them Che-pon- 
tuc, signifying a difficult place to get round. The 
white settlers named them Wing's Falls, after a sol- 
dier named Abraham Wing. Years after, a son of 
this man, while at a convivial party, agreed to trans- 
fer his right to name the falls to John Glen, on con- 
dition that the latter gentleman would pay for the 
supper of the company. Glen forthwith posted 
hand-bills all along the road from the settlement to 
Albany announcing the new name, which, being 
readily accepted by the people, has designated them 
ever since. 



From the Bat ten kill to Lake George. 241 

Worthless celebrity. Jesup's Falls. 



" Why, that Wing fellow was a regular Esau ! " 
exclaimed Clarence. 

" And threw away his chance of making his name 
immortal on earth," added Edith. 

" I don't think that was a very serious loss," said 
Arthur. " What good is it to Glen now that his 
name is attached to these falls? And will not the 
story of their sale carry Wing's name as far down 
the stream of time as the waters will carry Glen's? 
Besides, what does the whole affair show more than 
that both Wing and Glen were drinking roys- 
terers ? Pshaw ! I wouldn't give a pebble from the 
foot of this fall for such immortality!" 

The whole party laughed most heartily at Ar- 
thur's speech. The colonel responded by saying: — 

" Really, my boy, I was not aware that you were 
so much of a philosopher — but let us away. By 
driving smartly we may reach Jesup's Falls before 
sundown." 

Pausing on their way to see the great dam and 
boom which span the Hudson, and hold back the 
logs sent down from the wilderness, a few miles 
above Glen's Falls, they pushed on between lofty 
hills, through scenery which was sometimes pictur- 
esque, then rugged and grand, but rarely tame. It 
was too near dusk when they reached the foot of 

Jesup's Great Falls to permit them to stop. So 
11 



242 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The borders of the Adirondack region. 



they drove on to the village beyond, where they 
spent the night. 




KAH-CUE-BON-COOK, OR JESUP'S GREAT FALLS. 

They were now fairly on their way to the wilder- 
ness. They had entered the borders of that great 
Adirondack region, which includes a tract of coun- 
try equal in size to the State of Connecticut, stretch- 
ing away from Lakes George and Champlain on the 
east, to the St. Lawrence on the north and west, 
and reaching from the Canada line on the north, 
to Booneville on the south. It is the paradise of 
sportsmen, and the delight of such tourists as love 
nature in her own proper guise, and who are willing 
to dispense with the luxurious elegances of the 



From the Battcnkill to Lake George. 243 

A grand fall. Mouth of the Sacandasa. 



modern hotel, and put up with plenty, unadorned by 
the graces of art at such places of entertainment as 
they may find. Our travelers had made up their 
minds to endure cheerfully whatever privations 
they might be called to suffer, as the price of 
enjoying the wild scenery of the Upper Hudson, 
and of increasing their strength by inhaling the 
pure air of the mountain and forest, and by the 
toil of rough, but not too severe, travel. 

Jessup's Great Falls, or Kali-cJie-bon-cook, as the 
Indians called them, engaged their attention the 
next morning. A " grand fall," they pronounced 
it, truly enough. It extends more than a mile, in 
the course of which the river descends some one 
hundred and twenty feet, rushing, in some places, 
through deep rocky chasms and over lofty precipices. 

After viewing these fascinating falls, they drove 
several miles along the river bank, to a point where 
the active Sacandaga shakes hands with the Hudson, 
which, at that point, flows sluggishly along, as if 
taking rest preparatory to its gigantic leaps at Kah- 
che-bon-cook below. 

As our tourists re-entered their carriage after 
strolling for an hour round the mouth of the Sacan- 
daga, rain began to fall. Driving as rapidly as was 
consistent with mercy to their horses, they soon 
reached a hotel which they found on the banks of 



244 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Charming cascades. 



A rainy afternoon. 



the Hudson, at a point where Luzerne Lake tum- 
bles in charming cascades over a steep bluff into the 
river below. The Indians named this spot Tia-sa- 
ron-da, or, The Meeting of the Waters. 




CONFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON AND 8ACANDAOA. 

I 

The rain detained them, over that and the ensu- 
ing day, which was the Sabbath. But they were in 
an excellent inn, they wrote up their notes of their 
journey that afternoon, they heard good, faithful 
preaching in the village on Sunday, and therefore 
had no cause to complain or fret. On Monday 
morning they sallied out, visited the falls, and 



From the Battenkill to Lake George. 245 

A long leap. Off to Lake George. 

viewed the high banks at their foot, where, tradition 
said, an Indian messenger to the English General 
Burgoyne, when pursued by some patriots, leaped 
twenty-five feet across and escaped. Then, after 




-Ji 




*S j mte 



LUZERNE LAKE. 



spending a pleasant morning amid the attractive 
scenery of Luzerne, they departed for Lake George, 
where they intended to remain a few days, to re- 
cruit themselves, before penetrating the depths of 
the Adirondack wilderness. 



246 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

liest after toil. 



CHAPTER XV. 

FROM LAKE GEORGE TO THE PEAK OF TAHAWUS. 

TJlN going to Lake George our tourists left the 
^ valley of the Hudson at Luzerne, and drove 
eleven miles through a thickly wooded, picturesque, 
and partially cultivated country. Their reasons for 
this were, that the scenery of the valley between 
Warrensburgh and Luzerne is " not particularly in- 
teresting," and that the younger members of the 
party were desirous of spending a few days at that 
popular place of resort for summer visitors. In 
harmony with this part of their plan, they had for- 
warded the principal part of their baggage from 
Troy to the care of mine host of that magnificent 
caravansera, the Fort William Henry Hotel. 

Their somewhat fatiguing, but health-giving travel 
since leaving Troy, had prepared them to enjoy the 
luxurious living of this fashionable spot, and, for a 
day or two, they lost somewhat of their enthusiasm 
for fine scenery, and for ascertaining the historical 
and traditional incidents associated with particular 
localities. But their minds were too vigorous and 
healthy to be long satisfied with the monotony of 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 247 

Historic associations of Lake George. 

the lounging, hum-drum life led by most of the 
visitors. Hence, the young folk, after a few days 
of idleness, besought the colonel to lead them to 
the varied points of historic interest in the vicinity. 

This he gladly did, for much as he enjoyed fine 
views, it was the human interests connected with 
places which most affected him. And after he had 
recalled the fierce struggles between Huron and 
Mohawk, Frenchman and Englishman, Tory and 
Patriot, which had taken place in the not-very-dis- 
tant past on the shores of this transparent little 
sheet of water, Arthur only expressed what all the 
others felt when he said, — 

" Lake George seems like another place since you 
have related these facts, sir." 

"Yes," added Edith, " for now when I look out 
upon the lake I almost expect to see a fleet of Hu- 
ron canoes, coming to make war on the Mohawks, 
in the woods behind us." 

"And I," said Clarence, "am ever fancying I 
hear the war-whoop of the Indian or the rattle of 
musketry." 

" Not very charming fancies, I confess," replied 
the colonel ; " nor are they wholly repulsive, if 
we consider their moral significance. The mutual 
slaughters among the Indians thinned their num- 
bers, and made it less difficult for civilized men to 



248 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Significance of the old wars. Strokes and counter-strokes. 



occupy a country the savages never would have 
improved. The strifes between the lion flag of En- 
gland and the lilies of France gave these broad 
lands to Protestantism ; the contests of the red- 
coats and the patriots helped to make this great 
continent a broad arena in which freedom might 
fight its battles, and prove to the nations that vast 
masses of men can be self-governed — that the ballot 
is better for all parties than the bayonet." 

" I never looked at these old wars in this light be- 
fore," replied Jennie, with a gravity so unusual for 
her that it excited a smile, and Clarence laughingly 
remarked to the colonel, — 

" I really think, sir, that Miss Jennie will turn 
into a philosopher before we get through with our 
tour. 

"There is just as much danger of that as there is 
of your becoming a wit" retorted Jennie with a 
most withering glance at Clarence. 

" You are fairly hit now, Clarence," said Arthur, 
laughing. 

" I acknowledge it," replied the young man ; and 
then looking meaningly at Jennie, he added, " I will 
let the arrow stay in the wound as young ladies do 
when wounded with shafts from Cupid's bow." 

Jennie blushed and frowned under this scarcely 
courteous counter-stroke. She was about to reply, 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 249 



In the wilderness. 



A sweet scene. 



when Mrs. Stuart, after shaking her finger at Clar- 
ence, asked the colonel, — 

" When shall we resume our exploration of the 
Hudson? " 

The colonel named the following Monday, to the 
satisfaction of all. And when Monday morning ar- 
rived they started in high spirits for Warrensburgh, 
over a plank-road, through a hilly country. Here, 




CONFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON AND SCARRON. 



at noon, they arrived, often pausing on their way 

to enjoy what Edith said was "one of the sweetest 

scenes on the whole river." It was the confluence 
11* 



250 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A monstrous pile of rocks. 

of the Hudson with the Scarron. This river is 
called Schroon on the maps. This is a corruption 
of Scarron, the name given to a beautiful lake and 
river by the French, in honor of the widow of the 
poet Scarron, but who is better known as Madame 
de Maintenon. 

This scene was in a delightful little valley. The 
waters met at a lovely spot shaded by elms and 
other spreading trees, and formed a picture of beau- 
ty and repose in strong contrast with the rugged 
hills around. ' 

"What a monstrous pile of rocks!" exclaimed 
Arthur, pointing to a craggy elevation on the north 
side of the valley. 

" That is called the Thunder's Nest," replied the 
colonel, " probably because the Indians, who knew 
nothing of electricity, supposed that thunder was pro- 
duced by spirits who haunted lofty isolated spots." 

Our tourists were surprised to find Warrensburgh 
a thrifty leather manufacturing village on the banks 
of the Scarron, and near the borders of the wilder- 
ness. As they had thirty miles to drive before 
reaching the village of Scarron Lake, where they 
intended to spend the night, they only stopped long 
enough to refresh themselves and rest their horses. 
They found the roads running through a rolling 
valley in which the scenery was much diversified. 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 25 1 

An aristocrat in the woods. In the forest. 

The ride was delightful, though it was rather long, 
and their team was evidently much fatigued when 
they arrived, late in the evening, at the village. 

At this place another surprise met them in the 
morning. They found a tasteful mansion, called 
Isola Bella, built on an island on the lovely Scar- 
ron Lake, and occupied by a Colonel Ireland, who 
traces his ancestry back to one of the bold barons 
who accompanied William the Conqueror from Nor- 
mandy to England. They had not expected to find 
such a scion of the proud old British aristocracy 
in the wilderness. 

Scarron or Schroon Lake delighted them, as also 
did Paradox Lake, in its neighborhood. Ascending 
the valley a few miles, they reached Root's Inn that 
evening, where they found several sportsmen, some 
of whom were about to enter the wilderness, while 
others had just returned from it. 

Our party was now fairly in the wilderness. Be- 
yond Root's they found the roads rough, the hills 
steep, the forest vast and solitary, its deep silence 
only broken by the sighing of the restless wind 
or the bubbling of the laughing brook. Here and 
there they saw the lonely cabin of a settler. At 
some points the top of a lofty hill afforded a grand 
view, which amply repaid for the toil of the ascent to 
it. As they advanced the roads became rougher 



2C2 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



] tough riding 



Merriment. 



and rougher, but the air, every-where pure and redo- 
lent of the scent of the pine, the hemlock, and the 
balsam, was delicious and invigorating. They en- 
joyed the drive. Nevertheless they were not sorry 
when they reached the Tahawus House, where they 
concluded to remain until the next day. 

Here they found it necessary to change their 
team, and to procure guides who should accom- 
pany them in their further explorations. Their next 
day's ride was over a corduroy road, that is, a road 
built of logs, and a more jolting, jamming ride none 
of them, the colonel only excepted, had ever expe- 
rienced. But, inspired by the invigorating air, and 




ADIRONDACK VILLAGE. 



accepting their disagreeables with merriment, they 
found health, if not absolute enjoyment, in it. Never 
perhaps had any of them eaten with richer gusto, or 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 253 



A forsaken village. Transformations. 



slept more sweetly, than they did that night at 
Adirondack village. 

This almost forsaken village was made their head- 
quarters, from whence they proposed to sally forth 
on foot, and in suitable garments, to visit the most 
noticeable scenery of this interesting region, which 
has been very fitly named by its admirers, "The 
Switzerland of America." 

There was no little fun among them when they 
first met, after dinner, arrayed in their wilderness 
attire. The gentlemen had on hunting shirts, coarse 
pantaloons, huge heavy boots, felt hats, and stout 
buckskin gloves. The ladies, still more metamor- 
phosed, appeared in short woolen dresses, hoods, and 
capes, stout boots reaching to the knees, and gloves 
with gauntlets fastened above the elbows. For a few 
moments witticisms flew about like leaves in an 
autumn storm, but in a short time the fitness of 
their costumes to the work before them was so 
obvious that they ceased to laugh, and gave them- 
selves to the task of following their guides. 

This task was by no means a light one, for their 
way, after crossing the Hudson by a rude bridge, 
led through a tangled growth of wild raspberry 
bushes, and then up a winding mountain path across 
which lay many a noble pine, killed by the winter's 
blast or by the lightning's stroke. Boulders covered 



254 



Summer Days on the Hudson, 



Camping out. 



with green moss were also sunk in the soil. Over 
these obstacles they had to climb, and they were 
not sorry when they reached a lovely little lake to 




FIRST BKIDGE OVER THE HUDSON. 



hear their guides say they would camp there for the 
night. 

" Camp here ! " exclaimed Jennie, with a scornful 
twist of her rosy lips, " why, where in the world are 
we to sleep ! " 

The guides soon answered that question by pro- 
ceeding to erect a cabin of poles and bark, which 
they divided, by hanging up a blanket, into two 
parts, one for the ladies, and the other for the gen- 
tlemen. For beds they cut a quantity of hemlock 
boughs, which the guides laughingly assured the 
ladies were " a sight easier and sweeter to sleep on 
than hoss hair or goose feathers." 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 255 



A delicious supper in the woods. 



While one of the guides was giving the finishing 
strokes to the cabin, the other was off on a rude raft 
fishing; for trout in the lake. On his return with a 







■■■■■ ■ "m^m* 

BARK CABIN AT CALAMITY POND. 

plentiful supply of that delicious fish, supper was 
prepared upon the clean grass. 

"This isn't quite up to the style of the Fort 
William Henry House, is it, Clarence?" asked Ar- 
thur, as he was rubbing the grease from his fin- 
gers in the fresh grass. 

" Not quite. But you never eat such trout as 
these anywhere else, eh, Arthur?" responded Clar- 
ence, smacking his lips by way of giving epicurean 
emphasis to his words. 

" Nor such slapjacks," added Jennie. 



256 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



A pleasant dispute. A sad story. 



Then a pleasant dispute arose as to whether it 
was the superior quality of the trout and slapjacks 
or the sharpness of their appetites which made their 
supper so relishable. This point was never settled, 
I believe, because the dispute was broken off by the 
sad story which led the beautiful lake at their feet 
to be named " Calamity Pond." 

They were told by the guides that about thirty 
years since, when the iron works at Adirondack 
village were in operation, Mr. David Henderson, 
one of the Iron Company, went out on the lake 
in a scow. In landing he tried to place his pistol 
on a flat rock near the margin of the lake, holding 
the muzzle in his hand. By some means it went 
off, and the ball entered his body, making a mortal 
wound of which he died in half an hour. His body 
was sent to his home in Jersey City, N. J., and his 
friends, at great cost, erected an elegant sandstone 
monument upon the rock where he perished. 

The relation of this story was followed by that 
of others from their wide-awake guides, respect- 
ing adventures both comic and tragic in the forests. 
These stories occupied their attention very agreea- 
bly until the -gathering gloom warned them that it 
was time to seek repose upon their hemlock couches 
within the cabin. The young ladies protested that 
"they should not sleep a wink on such a bed," but 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 257 

First forest toilet. A hunter's trail. 

when they appeared next morning with faces rosy 
and fresh, Clarence jocosely suggested that " they 
must have slept without winking." 

While their good-natured guides prepared a break- 
fast of trout, slapjacks, crackers, and coffee, our 
tourists continued to make their first forest toilet 
on the shore of the lake. If it was not done as 
tastefully as in an elegant boudoir, it was certainly 
performed with more merriment. The young men 
offered all sorts of inflated compliments to the fair 
dryads, as they facetiously named their laughing 
cousins, and were paid in return with mock protests 
against their attentions, which the young ladies, be- 
ing " nymphs of the woods," could not condescend 
to receive from such " uncouth ogres." Thus, if 
they did not partake of a " feast of reason " before 
breakfast, they sharpened each other's wits and sat 
down to their rustic breakfast with flashing eyes and 
with appetites, as Arthur put it, " sharp as the 
hooks which had brought the delicious trout to their 
frying-pan." 

Breakfast being over, they resumed their journey 
toward Mount Tahawus. Their road was nothing 
but a hunter's trail. It was not easily seen except 
by the practical eyes of their guides. It was, as 
Arthur said, " a very hard road to travel." But the 
pure, bracing air enabled them to laugh at diffi- 



2;8 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Beautiful cascades. 



culties and to press on. Presently they came to 

a pretty little stream, the Opalescent River, at 

point where it receives the waters of Lake 

Colden, glimpses of 
which they caught oc- 
casionally through the 
trees. 

The stream they 
found to consist of a 
series of rapids and 
cascades, here leaping 
over huge boulders 
weighing a thousand 
p tons or more, and 
51 y there sweeping across 
beds of smooth glitter- 
ing pebbles of opales- 
cent feldspar, of which 
the bed of the stream 
was full. 

"How beautiful!" 
exclaimed Mrs. Stu- 
*"" art, pointing to a shal- 
low spot on which the 
sun was shining in full splendor. " Mark the rich 
colors of those stones ; some are deep blue, others 
are brilliant green ; still others are pearly white. I 




FALL IN THE OPALESCENT RIVEB. 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 2 59 



T he Hanging Spear. At the foot of the mountain. 



never saw any thing of the kind so exquisitely 
beautiful." 

In saying this, she only expressed what all the 
rest felt. By and by they came to a spot where the 
river fell more than fifty feet between a narrow 
chasm in the rock into a gloomy basin. 
" That is grand ! " exclaimed Arthur. 
" It must be a glorious sight when the stream is 
full," added Clarence. 

" The Indians, always poetical in naming natural 
objects, call this fall She-gwi-en-dawkzve, or The 
Hanging Spear," observed the colonel, " and it does 
not require a very vivid imagination to perceive the 
fitness of the name." 

Up the valley of the Opalescent our tourists slow- 
ly picked their way to the foot of the Peak of Ta- 
hawus. It took them over four hours to walk six 
miles, and then, to refresh themselves, they rested in 
a bark camp left by some previous tourists. They 
were now in a wild, solitary spot amid stunted trees, 
near the lair of the wild cat, and in the vicinity of 
one of the chief springs from which the mighty 
Hudson flows. 

To climb Mount Tahawus and return to this 
camp by evening was their task for the afternoon. 
Their guides told them that few ladies had ever at- 
tempted it ; " the few who had did not regret it." 



;6o 



Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Climbing a pathless mountain. 



" Then we will attempt it. What woman has 
done woman can do again," replied Mrs. Stuart in 
a mock heroic tone, intended to excite the merry 
laugh which it caused. 





CLIMBING MOUNT TAHAWU8. 



To climb two miles over a pathless mountain at 
an angle of nearly forty-five degrees is, indeed, no 
light adventure, as our tourists soon found. But 
they had health, energy, pride of character, and 
strong wills to sustain them. They pressed on, now 
winding round a moss-covered boulder, then creep- 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 261 

On the Peak of Tahawus. 

ing beneath or pushing between the branches of the 
dwarf pines and spruces which stood in their path. 
Here they found an open spot where the wild oxalis 
grew ; there they crossed a grove of ancient balsams 
a hundred years old, but less than five feet high, or 
walked on a carpet of moss and lichen. At last 
they rose above the line of the forest, and found 
themselves on steep rocky slopes and narrow ledges 
along which they had to creep clinging to the strong 
mosses or grasping a gnarled shrub, which had its 
roots in the fissures of the rock. Glad indeed were 
they when they lighted upon a spring of very cold 
water which trickled from the mountain's breast, to 
aid in giving birth to the Hudson. They drank its 
limpid water and were refreshed. Then on again 
they pressed, cheered by the shout of a guide who 
had reached the peak, until they found themselves 
triumphantly seated on the bare rock which forms 
the summit of Tahawus, " the Sky Piercer," where 
they were some six thousand feet above the level 
of that sea on which they had sailed so pleasantly 
a few weeks before in the little steam yacht which 
had carried them to Sandy Hook. 

Here they found a hut built of loose stones and 
covered with moss, the friendly work of some pre- 
vious tourists. Under the lee of this rude structure 
they sat down to enjoy the vast landscape spread 



262 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

An almost peerless view. 

out before their wondering eyes. Near them were 
Mounts Colden and M'Intyre. Beyond these Mounts 
Emmons and Seward, Whiteface Mountain, and the 




HOSPICE ON THE PEAK OF MOUNT TAIIAWL'S. 

Giant of the Valley. But over these they looked 
far out to the St. Lawrence valley on the north ; on 
the east they saw the ever charming Green Mount- 
ains, and beyond the gray -head of Mount Wash- 
ington, the king of the White Mountain chain. 
Southward rose the mysterious Katzbergs ; while on 
the west appeared the mountain ranges of Herkimer 
and Hamilton Counties, in New York. 

They were delighted with the countless variety 
of objects embraced in this almost peerless view : 
Forests that seemed boundless; small lakes gleam- 



From Lake George to the Peak of Tahawus. 263 

The times of old. Rourd the camp-fire. 

ing amid the trees; Lake Champlain, stretching 
one hundred and forty miles to the eastward, dot- 
ted with white sails ; and rivers winding like silver 
threads through their luxuriant valleys. 

" I shall never forget this, as long as I live," said 
Jennie. 

u Nor I!" " nor I!" added the others in quick 
succession. 

" It is one of the grandest views in the world," 
remarked the colonel. 

They remained on the Peak of Tahawus, feasting 
on its scenery and talking of the times of old, when 
none but Indian savages roamed over the vast 
spaces at their feet, until the rapidly increasing 
coolness of the air reminded them that the after- 
noon was declining, and suggested the propriety of 
their descent to the forest below. This was accom- 
plished in far less time, and with much less toil, 
than the ascent. They reached their bark camp at 
the foot of the mountain in good season, with such 
an appetite for their simple supper as most of them 
had never previously possessed. After eating " vo- 
raciously," as Edith asserted, they sat round their 
camp-fire, wondering they felt so little fatigued after 
such unusual exertion, and listening to stories of 
war, Indians, and hunters, told by the colonel and 
the guides, far into the evening. 



264 Summer Days on the Hudson 

A Sabbath in camp. Lake Golden. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FROM TAHAWUS TO THE END OF THE TOUR. 

HE next day was the Sabbath, which they 
L spent quietly and thoughtfully in and around 
their camp, reading their pocket Testaments, listen- 
ing at intervals to the colonel's observations on 
certain passages, and attending a morning and even- 
ing prayer and singing service, which he conducted. 
On Monday morning, after partaking of a rude 
breakfast, heartily enjoyed, they started on their 
return down the Opalescent Valley to Lake Colden, 
which lies some three thousand feet above tide 
water, in a high basin formed by adjacent mountain 
ranges. 

"Whew! what cold water this is!" exclaimed 
Arthur, withdrawing his hand from the margin of 
the lake. " I should think the fishes would have 
but cold comfort here." 

' There is no fish in this 'ere lake ; nothing but 
lizards and leeches," remarked one of the guides. 

"What, no trout?" asked Jennie, looking quite 
disappointed at the prospect of eating another forest 
dinner without trout. 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 265 



The return to head-quarters. 



" No, my dear, not a trout swims these cold wa- 
ters," replied the colonel. " This spot seems conse- 




LAKE GOLDEN. 



crated to the goddess of solitude and silence, for 
birds are almost as scarce as fish." 

After wandering about the shores of this lonely 
lake at their own sweet will, and regaling them- 
selves on the remains of their supplies, they saun- 
tered slowly back, by way of Calamity Pond, to their 

head-quarters in Adirondack village. 
12 



266 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A freak of Nature. An Indian's discovery. 

They were fresh enough, after a brief rest, to go 
out toward evening to see the Iron Dam that Dame 
Nature, in one of her freaks, had thrown across a 
stream which is one of the sources of the Hudson.' 
This was nothing less than a massive dyke of iron, 
stretching across the valley, and barring in the wa- 
ters like an artificial dam. 

" This is wonderful ! " exclaimed the colonel. " It 
seems placed here to attract the eyes of men, and 
to guide them to the measureless quantities of iron 
ore which lie hidden in the bowels of these everlast- 
ing hills." 

They were then informed, by one of their guides, 
that the mineral riches of these solitary hills were 
hidden from white men's eyes until about fifty years 
ago. At that time an Indian hunter appeared one 
day at some iron works in North Elba. Taking a 
lump of iron ore from beneath his blanket, he 
showed it to a Mr. Henderson, saying, with a know- 
ing expression in his eyes, — 

" You want to see urn ore ? Me find plenty — all 
same." 

"Where did it come from?" asked Henderson, 
with an assumed air of indifference. 

Pointing to the south-west the Indian replied, 
" Me hunt beaver all 'lone, and find 'um where 
water run over iron dam." 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 267 




Prompted partly by curiosity and partly by the 
hope of gain, Henderson organized an exploring 
party, followed the Indian, found the Iron Dam, 




THE IHON DAM. 



discovered that boundless quantities of valuable 
ore lay waiting the skill of man, procured partners, 
purchased the lands, and established iron works at 
an outlay of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The 
enterprise, successful at first, failed in 1856, owing 
partly to a fearful flood which devastated many of 



268 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Over a corduroy road. Boating on a lake. 

the works, and partly to the depressed condition of 
the iron trade. Henceforth the village was desert- 
ed of its inhabitants. 

Their next day's journey was in a stout, spring- 
less wagon, over a merciless corduroy road, twenty- 
six weary miles, to Pendleton. 

fi We have had a pretty tough ride to-day," said 
Clarence, after stretching his sore and stiffened 
limbs on a grass plot in front of the house which 
was to be their home for a day or two. 

" It was rather jolty," replied Arthur, " but I 
think the view we had of that sweet patch of fairy- 
land they call Sandford Lake was at least part pay- 
ment for the shaking we got." 

The party agreed to this opinion, as they did also 
to the colonel's proposal of an idle evening and an 
early hour for retirement. 

But fatigue in that pure air soon wore off, and 
the next morning found them all cheerful, and 
eager to start in boats for Harris's Lake. 

Boating on the lake was a new and pleasant ex- 
perience to our tourists ; " Infinitely easier than 
roughing it on corduroy roads," Arthur asserted, in 
a tone made emphatic by the twinges of his still 
aching bones. The lake they found to be a beauti- 
ful sheet of water: the rapids at its head Mrs. 
Stuart pronounced " very picturesque indeed," set 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 269 



Grand aspects of the mountains. 



A rocky knob. 



off, as it was, by the rounded form of Goodenow 
Mountain in the distant background. The aspects 
of Mount Tahawus, (Mount Marcy,) Mount Colden, 







RAPIDS AT THE HEAD OF HAERI8'S LAKE. 

and Mount M'Intyre, seen from a point of view 
below the rapids, Clarence declared to be " grand, 
even if they are old friends," an opinion from which 
no one felt disposed to dissent. 

Early next morning they launched their boats on 
the placid face of Rich's Lake, a miniature body of 
water only two miles and a half long, but surround- 
ed by many peculiar objects. One of these was the 
Goodenow Mountain, rising from its southern shore 
to the height of more than fourteen hundred feet, 
and crowned with a curiously formed " rocky knob ; " 



270 ' Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Singular resemblances to an elephant. 

the other was a wood-crowned limestone penin- 
sula, called Elephant Island. 

" See !" exclaimed Arthur, pointing to a protrud- 
ing rock, at the corner of the promontory, " that 
looks for all the world like an elephant standing in 
a stall." 

" You fire not the first to perceive such a like- 
ness," replied the colonel ; " that, with other singular 




ELEPHANT ISLAND. 



resemblances to that animal to be seen in these 
rocks, gave this little islet its name." 

"But is it really an island?" asked Edith. "It 
looks as if it jutted out from the shore." 

" So it does, my dear," replied the colonel. " But 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 271 



A forest saw-mill. A clearing. 



when the lake is full the waters flow over the short 
neck of land which joins it to the main, and make 
it an island." 

Passing out of this pretty lake, they soon reached 
the confluence of the Hudson and Fishing Brook. 
Here they left the boats, and walked half a mile 
through the forest to see a clearing and a saw-mill, 
said to be the first on the Hudson. 

The saw-mill stood at the head of a wild gorge, 
through which the water ran with picturesque wild- 
ness from the pond above. 

The clearing was a great novelty to all but the 
colonel. They had never before seen the face of a 
patch of forest when undergoing man's first efforts 
to subdue it from its wilderness condition. As they 
were looking at the field, almost covered with stones 
and charred stumps, Arthur said, — 

" It doesn't seem possible that this piece of land 
can ever be made into a smooth, highly cultivated 
field. How can men ever plow between these 
stumps and boulders?" 

" The owner will be likely to' put in his first crop 
without plowing," replied the colonel. " He will 
loosen its surface with the hoe, and, after dropping 
his seed, will cover it with the same instrument. 
The rich, virgin soil will give him a good crop. 
After taking it off, he will gather the stones into 



272 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



The settler's conquest of nature. 




FIRST SAW-MILL ON THE HUDSON. 



heaps. If able, he will pull many of these stumps 
with a machine worked by oxen ; others of them he 
will reduce to ashes by fire. Then he will put in 
his plow. It will be slow, rough work the first time : 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 273 



A " carry." 1 



A sail on Lily pad Pond. 



but year by year it will become easier, and in far 
fewer seasons than you can readily imagine he will 
have this field almost as clean and smooth as the 
surface of a Connecticut meadow." 

Returning to their boats, our tourists proceeded 
by a " carry" — that is, by walking, the guides carry- 
ing their baggage and boats — from the junction of 
the Hudson and Fishing Brook to Lilypad Pond. 
The distance was only three quarters of a mile, and 
the walk was an agreeable diversion, albeit the path 










FIRST CLEARING ON THE HUDSON. 



was none of the smoothest. Another sail, through 
this pond and Narrow Lake, and then a short walk 



12* 



274 Summer Days on the Hudson. 



Edith's poetic fancy. 



over rough boulders, brought them to the outlet of 
the beautiful Catlin Lake. 

" This is another scene from fairy-land," said 



CATLIN LAKE. 



Edith, as the light boat sped like an arrow along 
the unruffled surface of the water. " I can scarcely 
believe that such a charming spot belongs to this 
solitude. The fair naiads of these forests must 
have conjured it up for our entertainment, and 
when we are gone it will dissolve, like a work of 
enchantment." 

" A very poetical fancy, Edith, and very com- 
plimentary to us," replied the colonel, laughing ; 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 275 

Beginning a hard day's journey. 

" but, unfortunately for your theory, every sum- 
mer visitor to these regions finds it just as you 
see it. 

" It is lucky for us that it is so," added Clarence. 

" Why so, sir?" asked Edith. 

" Because, if the scene were an illusion, and it 
should happen to dissolve just now, we might find 
ourselves carried with it into some fairy grotto be- 
neath the lake, which might be more airy and fan- 
tastic than would suit our earthly, matter-of-fact 
natures." 

As Clarence made this remark their boat touched 
the shore. They landed, and found the guides of 
the other boats, which had preceded theirs, busily 
preparing a camp for their night's abode. 

Their next day's journey put their powers of en- 
durance to a pretty severe test. Not at its begin- 
ning, however, for that was a decidedly easy and 
delightful boat-ride, through a miniature body of 
water with shores that charmed their eyes with 
beauty, and which emptied into Catlin Lake through 
a stony channel. 

" This is Fountain Lake," said the colonel, as they 
stood at the head of its outlet, waiting for the guides 
to launch the boats. The " carry" of a mile had 
enabled them " to stretch their legs," as Arthur in- 
elegantly expressed it. 



276 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Fountain Lake. A bold start. 

"Why is it called Fountain Lake, sir?" inquired 
the properly inquisitive Clarence. 

" Because it is the first basin which collects water 
from the springs which give origin to the western 
branch of our noble Hudson. We shall presently 
drink from the principal of those springs — that is," 
the colonel added after a significant pause, " if we 
have pluck enough to go through the swamp beyond 
which it lies." 

The young men boldly affirmed that they " could 
stand swamp travel or any thing else. The last 
week had made them tough as hunters." In the 
same spirit the ladies declared they had become 
daughters of the forest, and " could go through the 
woods as readily as Diana of the ancients." 

This merry boasting soon met its test, for, having 
glided across the two miles' length of Fountain 
Lake, and ascended Spring Brook as far as their 
boats could float, they entered the swamp. To re- 
lieve the guides, who had to carry the boats, each 
of our tourists carried a small portion of their bag- 
gage. With full hands, light hearts, and loud mer- 
riment, they plunged into the swamp. 

But walking over ground full of holes, stones, and 
gnarled roots, covered with tangled vines and strag- 
gling shrubs, with fallen trees lying every-where 
across the track, is no laughing matter. Hence, in 



From Tahaivus to the End of the Tour. 277 

Traveling under difficulties. 

a short time their jokes died away. They plunged 
on in silence, broken only by such exclamations as, 
"O!" "This is tou^h!" "Dear me, how hot it 




I 

jf" 1, jit 



SWAMP TRAVKL. 



IS 



" Plague on these monstrous mosquitoes ! 
they are eating me up," etc. Every few moments 
saw them panting and resting against a prostrate 
tree, diligently wiping away the perspiration, or 
peering through the woods with glances which 



278 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Half a mile an hour. A feast of raspberries. 

seemed to say, " O, that we were at the end of the 
swamp ! " 

But all things, swamps not excepted, have an 
end, and after an hour's toil they found themselves 
half a mile from their starting-point, on more prac- 
ticable ground. 

" Half a mile an hour ! " exclaimed Arthur, puff- 
ing vigorously. " I call that lightning express 
speed. There is not a steam-engine in the country 
that could begin to come up with it. In fact, I'll 
back this party against the best locomotive ever 
built." 

" You mean on this ground" added Clarence. 

" Faugh !'" exclaimed Jennie, laughing scornfully. 
" A steam-engine couldn't budge here." 

" Come and taste these raspberries ! " cried the 
colonel, who had moved off into a sort of cut which 
had once been made for a canal, intended to unite 
the waters of Long Lake with those of Fountain 
Lake, but which had never been finished. 

The colonel's call attracted them. The ripe rasp- 
berries were abundant and refreshing. Their merri- 
ment returned, and, after traversing the cut with 
comparative ease for half a mile, they found them- 
selves standing at a spring, five feet in diameter, 
named Hendrick, in honor of that glorious old navi- 
gator, Hendrick Hudson. They were gazing on a 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 279 

Hendrick Spring. Linden Sea. 



spring which is the fruitful parent of the western 
branch of one of the finest rivers in America. 

" What deliciously cold water ! " exclaimed Ar- 
thur, after drinking from the shallow pool. 

" See those lovely ferns ! " cried Edith, pointing 
to the delicate fronds which adorned the margin of 
the spring. 

After resting awhile in this lovely nook, our 
tourists resumed their tedious journey through the 
swamp. They bore it well, but their cheerfulness 
grew smaller by degrees, until, reaching the end of 
that fatiguing " carry," they came to Long Lake, on 
which they embarked, and sailed until they reached 
a spot near to a sort of forest inn, at which they 
spent the night. 

Long Lake was called I?ica-pa-chozu, or the Linden 
Sea, by the Indians, because of the numerous Lin- 
den-trees growing round its shores. It is thirteen 
miles long, dotted here and there with lovely islets, 
surrounded with trees, which grow in some places 
on points which jut out into its transparent waters, 
while grand mountains rise loftily in the distance, 
lending their simple grandeur to the scene. 

This lake, they were told, though less than half a 
mile from Hendrick Spring, the western birthplace 
of the Hudson, and on the same level, flows into 
the St. Lawrence, and empties into the Atlantic a 



280 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A beautiful lake. 

thousand miles north-east of the mouth of the 
Hudson. 

From Long Lake, where they rested over Satur- 




RAQUE1TE KIVER. 



day and Sunday, our party proceeded to the Ra- 
quette River, which flows through it, " like the 
Rhone at Geneva." They were astonished at its 
size, and at the beauty of its park-like shores. 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 281 



Snow-shoe Eiver 



Moose. 



" Raquette ! Why is it called Raquette River?" 
asked Clarence. 

''This is a region formerly abounding in moose, 
and on these shores the Indians once gathered in 
large numbers to hunt. They came on snow-shoes. 
Raquette is French for snow-shoe, and hence came 
the name of the river. There is another opinion, 
however, which asserts that the Indians named it 
Ni-ha-na-wa-te, Noisy River. But as the stream is 
no more noisy than its neighbor, the Grass River, 







TENANTS OF UPPER HUDSON FORESTS. 



this source of the name is rejected by so good a 
critic in these matters as Lossing." 

" I once saw a moose in a menagerie," said Edith. 
" Is it found in these woods now?" 



282 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Wild animals. Log-houses. 

" Not in droves, my dear," replied the colonel, 
" but only in small numbers. The white hunter has 
thinned out the race, as he has also that of the deer, 
the bear, the otter, and the beaver. The wolf and 
the panther he has almost blotted from existence, 
as he will all the others in a few brief years, unless, 
moved by his interests, he should protect the noble 
deer. But I doubt not that he and the speculator 
in lumber, whose short-sighted greed is fast de- 
stroying our noble forests, will, in a few years, kill 
the last of the beasts which have for ages found a 
home in these grand old woods." 

From Raquette River our travelers proceeded 
by Stony Brook to Spectacle Ponds ; and thence, 
through these three beautiful sheets of water, and 
a short "carry," to the shores of the upper Saranac 
Lake, near which they found entertainment at the 
log-house of a hunter, which was a fair specimen 
of the homes that the first settlers were in the habit 
of building before the now almost universal saw- 
mill enabled them to build " frame" houses. 

" There isn't much comfort in a log-house," ob- 
served Jennie, with a slight curl of her lip, on the 
morning of their departure for a trip across the three 
Saranac Lakes. 

" Not much to invite an elegant lounger, whose 
ideas of comfort were formed in a sumptuous home, 



From Tahawns to the End of the Tour. 283 



Happy homes. 



A Canadian family. 



I confess," replied the colonel. " Nevertheless, a 
log-house is often the abode of more contentment 
and real happiness than are to be found in royal 







A LOG-HOUSK IN THE FOREST. 






palaces and magnificent mansions. I recollect a 
family in Canada, with whom I once found pleasant 
entertainment. They were then living in a large 
frame house, finely situated on the banks of a love- 
ly little lake. Their farm was large, highly culti- 
vated, very productive, and largely stocked with 
superior cattle, sheep, and horses. Their home 
was comfortably, not to say richly, furnished. Six 
daughters and three sons, all in fine health and 
possessing excellent characters, made that house 



284 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

A finer home but less happiness. 

cheerful, and contributed to the happiness of the 
father and mother. One day, while talking with 
this stout old farmer, he told me that he married 
young, and moved with his bride into what was 
then a wilderness. ' Our whole fortune,' said he, 
' consisted of an ax, a spade, a hoe, a cow, and a 
few trifles which we brought on the creature's back. 
We camped out until I built that log-house which 
you see on the edge of the barn-yard yonder, and 
I tell you, sir, that my wife and I often remark that 
our happiest days were spent under its rude, un- 
ceiled roof. We were poor, we worked hard, but 
the bird of hope sung its sweet songs in our hearts, 
and we enjoyed life amazingly — better, sir, than we 
do now in our big house. I do not mean to say 
we are not happy now, sir, but we have so many 
cares, and so much to vex us, that we often sigh 
for the good old days spent in that dear old log- 
shanty.' " 

" I guess there was some romance in all that, 
uncle," rejoined Jennie. 

" Perhaps so, perhaps so," said the colonel, " but 
I would have you remember, my dear, that hap- 
piness is not the product of either stately or log 
walls, of cheap or costly furniture, but of the human 
hearts which dwell within the building. If they are 
at peace with God and man their external surround- 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 285 



Crossing the Saranac Lakes. Leaving the wilderness, 



ings are of far less consequence than men generally 
imagine." 

Their embarkation on the Upper Saranac Lake 
put an end to what Jennie, in a whisper to Edith, 
somewhat disrespectfully called "uncle's preach- 
ing." The thirteen miles' trip on this " dark, wild 
sheet of water" was followed by a short "carry," 
which led to Round Lake, as the middle Saranac 
Lake is called, over which they sailed nearly four 
miles. Thence by a narrow winding stream, beau- 
tifully fringed with rushes, lilies, and other plants, 
they made their way to the Lower Saranac. A 
delightful sail of six miles on that placid sheet of 
water, among numerous lovely little islets, brought 
them by evening to a comfortable forest inn. Here 
they doffed their rough wilderness garb and re- 
sumed their usual dresses. Their journeys by boat 
and on foot in the wild woods were over. The next 
day comfortable wagons, drawn by stout horses, 
bore them rapidly through the Great Au Sable 
Valley. The magnificence of the scenery afford- 
ed them much pleasure. Nevertheless, they were 
far from displeased on arriving at Port Kent, in the 
evening, to find that they were about to return to 
their wonted way of life, amid those comforts of 
our high civilization to which long habit had accus- 
tomed them. 



286 Summer Days on the Hudson, 



Gains of the tour. One drawback. 



The next day found them on Lake Champlain on 
their way to Whitehall, whence, by rail and steam- 
boat, they were soon borne back to their point of 
departure — the Mountain House on Englewood 
Cliffs — which was their favorite summer resort. 
When seated on its broad piazza the morning after 
their return, discussing their tour, the colonel ob- 
served : — 

" I think we have all richly enjoyed our trip. We 
have certainly added to our strength and healthful- 
ness. What we have seen of this truly grand river 
and its adjacent scenery has widened the circle of 
our knowledge, quickened our powers of observa- 
tion, and improved our taste for the beautiful in 
nature. Our conversations respecting the associa- 
tions, legendary and historical, connected with the 
localities we have visited have given us a firmer 
hold of facts we knew before, and have also added 
somewhat to our mental stores. Altogether, I think 
our tour may be pronounced sensible, profitable, 
and exceedingly pleasant." 

To this conclusion the whole party gave cordial 
assent ; Miss Jennie, however, laughingly saying, — 

" There is but one drawback to it all — the trip 
has spoiled our complexions. We are all as brown 
as gipsies ! " 

" I had scarcely noticed that unquestionable fact," 



From Tahawus to the End of the Tour. 287 

A compliment to Jennie. Flattering worcte. 

replied Arthur, and then, lowering his voice, he 
added, in a tone meant only to reach Miss Jennie's 
ears, " but the increased brilliancy of your eyes has 
so lighted up your face that one doesn't observe its 
deepened color much." 

Miss Jennie blushed at this compliment, which, 
though spoken softly, had caught the colonel's ear. 
Playfully shaking his finger at Arthur, he said in a 
significant tone, — 

" Arthur, my boy, the words of a flatterer are the 
seeds of foolish actions, and nothing can give real 
beauty to the human face but the honor, innocence, 
and integrity of the soul which dwells behind it." 

This gentle rebuke made the color rise in the 
young man's face. He bowed somewhat awkward- 
ly, but made no reply. Mrs. Stuart, however, came 
to his relief, saying in her own gentle, playful 
manner, — 

" Let us have peace, my brother. Arthur's pret- 
ty words were but as flecks of idle foam, which dis- 
appear in a moment. Jennie understood them thus. 
I trust them both, as I do Miss Edith and Master 
Clarence. They possess common sense. They re- 
spect themselves and us. They will not act im- 
prudently. Let us rejoice, therefore, with unmixed 
joy, over these happy days spent on our noblest 
of rivers, trusting that when the stream of time 



288 Summer Days on the Hudson. 

Mrs. Stuart's faith. The colonel's caution. 

has borne us a little nearer to the great Hereafter, 
the wishes of our hearts, and theirs also, will be 
gratified." 

The colonel smiled benignly on his sister as he 
replied : — 

" Yes, yes, it is well to be hopeful, but I want 
these young folks to bear in mind that much, very 
much of their future will be what they choose to 
make it. Right aims, pure motives, diligent self- 
culture, patient waiting on Divine Providence, and 
supreme loyalty to our loving Redeemer, will make 
their future life-journey happy, and cause its ending 
to be but as the beginning of bliss. 

The lunch bell put an end to further conversation, 
as it must also be permitted to do to our story of 
"Summer Days on the Hudson." 




